In the 14th century, the Italian writer Boccaccio penned the Decameron,
a literary classic structured as 100 traditional tales told over the span of
10 days by a group of young aristocrats who retreated to a country villa to
escape the plague.
This year, the Decameron is the subject of the Department of Religion
and Classics' annual reading event. From noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29,
faculty, staff, and students will take turns reading some of the Decameron's
lively and amusing stories in the Welles-Brown Room of Rush Rhees Library. All
the readings will be done in English; visitors can stop by and stay as long
as they would like.
Donatella Stocchi-Perucchio, associate professor of Italian, will introduce
and offer commentary on the text. In addition, she and Associate Professor of
Mechanical Engineering Renato Perucchio will perform a scene from the Decameron
in Italian.
The Decameron is an important piece of literature that straddles the
end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance, providing a glimpse
of human behavior during a time of change in social institutions and values.
The annual Classics Reading Event began in 1999 with a marathon reading of the
Odyssey and has featured such ancient texts as Socrates' Apology
and Aristophanes' Lysistrata. This year's reading is organized and sponsored
by several student organizations: Eta Sigma Phi, the classics honor society;
the Religion and Classics Council; and the Medieval Society. For more information,
contact the Department of Religion and Classics at x5-5378.