A Rhetoric of the Decameron

Migiel challenges readers to pay attention to Boccaccio's language and ultimately, Migiel contends, the stories of the Decameron suggest that as women become more empowered, the limitations on them, including the threat of violence, become more insistent.

Marilyn Migiel is Professor of Romance Studies at Cornell University.

'This is an exceptional contribution to the discussion in progress on the Decameron, particularly on topics that are central to current criticism. While there is much to praise in this book, including the author's panoramic theoretical framework, her encyclopedic knowledge of Boccaccio criticism, and her limpid and energetically communicative style, this project's real glory is the readings themselves. It is nothing short of exhilarating to read Migiel on the novellas. This is by far the most lucid, refined, and convincing of the analyses in print that try to do justice to the assignment of tales to tellers. The book is stimulating, meritorious, and tremendously useful, making an unassailable case for the urgent relevance of the past to the present.'

R. Allen Shoaf, Alumni Professor of English, University of Florida:

'This is an exceptional contribution to the discussion in progress on the Decameron, particularly on topics that are central to current criticism. While there is much to praise in this book, including the author's panoramic theoretical framework, her encyclopedic knowledge of Boccaccio criticism, and her limpid and energetically communicative style, this project's real glory is the readings themselves. It is nothing short of exhilarating to read Migiel on the novellas. This is by far the most lucid, refined, and convincing of the analyses in print that try to do justice to the assignment of tales to tellers. The book is stimulating, meritorious, and tremendously useful, making an unassailable case for the urgent relevance of the past to the present.'