Episode Topic: Boccaccio, "The Decameron" (Introduction & First Story)

The bubonic plague (“Black Death”), which arrived in Italy from China in 1347, killed between a third and half of the Eurasian population. In Boccaccio’s "The Decameron" (1353) ten young people seek refuge from the monotony and misery of the plague as it ravages their city of Florence, by gathering together in a country house to tell each other stories. Despite all the innumerable changes that separate our world from that of 14th-century Italy, Boccaccio’s description of life in the midst of a pandemic is startlingly familiar. And the plan cooked up by the young people, in response to the shuttered buildings and the grim diet of news, is a strategy for psychic survival from which we can learn a great deal.

Featured Speakers: 

• Barry McCrea, Professor of English and the Donald R. Keough Family Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame
• Lisa Caulfield, the Director of the Notre Dame Global Center at Kylemore Abbey

Read this episode's recap on ThinkND.
Explore the series "Literature & Film in Lockdown".

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND:  go.nd.edu/9ecc1c.

This podcast is a part of the  London Book Club Series titled “Literature & Film in Lockdown".

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