Decameron 2020: Survival through Stories

In the 6th story of the first day, Emilia tells the story of a wealthy yet simple man who foolishly stumbles into the notice of the dangerous and powerful religious inquisition. As a consequence, a greedy inquisitor begins leeching the man's money, but the merchant uses just a few simple words from the Gospel to reveal the hypocrisy in the clergy.

This story was narrated by Diana Guizado.

Translation by John Florio. Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

In the 5th story of the first day Fiametta tells the story of a very beautiful (and very married) noblewoman who uses wit, cunning, and roasted hens to rebuff the not-so-subtle advances from the one-eyed King of France. 

This story was narrated by Regan Sims.

Translation by John Florio. Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

The two previous stories appealed to virtue--the fourth, told by Dioneo appeals to vice. In this story, a young monk who commits an egregious offence with a young woman, and then how he frees himself from the pain of punishment by cunningly, and scandalously, reprehending his senior Abbot with the very same offence.

Warning: This story describes a sexual assault, and may be deeply troubling to many listeners. 

This story was narrated by JM Meyer.

Translation by John Florio. Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

In this episode we will pause from telling Bocaccio's Decameron, and instead we are going to hear from our storytellers. You will hear from Bob Jones, Abishek Nair, Celine Dirkes and Ania Upstill our first four readers of the stories you just listened to. In the first of our discussions, the four voice actors portraying the Decameronians come together to discuss building a community in a pandemic, and how our access to information shapes our reaction to traumas of all stripes. We will uncover parallels between a singular past and our shared present.

Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

In this episode of Decameron 2020, Ania Upstill reads for Philomena and tells the tale of the Three Rings: a parable in which King Saladin poses a tricky question: Which of the three Abrahamic religions is best? He receives a surprising answer.

Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

In the second story of the first day, Nephilia tells the tale of a virtuous man who is begged to convert from the Jewish faith to the Christian religion. After visiting the corrupt clergy of Rome, he makes a surprising decision. Building off of the previous episode, Neiphila concentrates on the themes of virtue, faith, and organized religion. 

A heads up and a bit of a warning: the premise of Boccaccio's story is that everyone knows that that Jews need saving by Christians. That is obviously an anti-Semitic premise. We think that Nephilia's use of irony to reveal Christian hypocrisy balances out the story, and maybe even redeems it...but maybe not. 

Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

In the first story of the first day Pamphilus tells the story of a very bad man who, thanks to a false deathbed confession, is forever venerated as the most holy of saints. 

This story was adapted and narrated by Abishek Nair (MFA, Rutgers Mason Gross). 

Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3

Bob Jones (MFA, Mary Baldwin) recites the introduction to Giovanni Boccaccio's influential, often cited, (and rarely read) The Decameron.

Podcast intro: Karen Alvarado. Editing and Sound Design by Brady Marchand. Copy editing by Bob Jones, Ania Upstill, Karen Alvarado, and J.M. Meyer. Project manager: Celine Dirkes. Graphic design: Hannah Lang.

Music and SFX: 

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_01

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_02

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_03

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_04

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_05

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/jsbach_bwv996_06

http://aux.incompetech.com/royalty-free/Brandenburg%20No4-1%20BWV1049.mp3