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Reviews

""A striking picture . . . [and] a wonderfully clear and vivid window onto the life of a pivotal figure in the history of Italian literature. When seen in the proper light, it glistens with wit and originality.” * Literary Review * ""Mr. Santagata writes with a well-tuned awareness of previous Boccaccio biographies, without ever seeming pedantic or nitpicking. . . . He does so without assuming more authority than is warranted — perhaps because he realizes that he, too, may be subject to revision."" * New York Sun * ""A tremendously detailed and readable work, very likely the best biography this writer has had since the one John Addington Symonds wrote back in 1895."" * Open Letters Review * “A well-informed, learned, scholarly, comprehensive, ambitious, imaginative, justly critical, authoritative, accessible biography of one of the titans of Italian literature, and the founding father of modern Italian prose writing.” -- Robert Black, author of 'Machiavelli: From Radical to Reactionary' “Santagata’s Boccaccio presents us with a portrait of the great Florentine writer that is rich in historical detail, exquisitely sensitive to the particular mix of literary tradition and innovation that Boccaccio represented, and brilliantly evocative of the fourteenth-century Florentine environment out of which Boccaccio emerged. Attending to Boccaccio’s work in both Latin and the Tuscan vernacular, Santagata has produced a magnum opus that will be the standard biography for years to come.” -- Christopher S. Celenza, author of 'Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer' “In this engaging biography, a master scholar brings Giovanni Boccaccio to life through sensitive readings of virtually all his writings and an impressive command of both secondary and archival sources. This richly informative study offers a completely new portrait of Boccaccio that will breathe new life into our understanding of Italian Renaissance literature.” -- Guido Ruggiero, author of 'Love and Sex in the Time of Plague: A Decameron Renaissance'

""A tremendously detailed and readable work, very likely the best biography this writer has had since the one John Addington Symonds wrote back in 1895."" * Open Letters Review * “A well-informed, learned, scholarly, comprehensive, ambitious, imaginative, justly critical, authoritative, accessible biography of one of the titans of Italian literature, and the founding father of modern Italian prose writing.” -- Robert Black, author of 'Machiavelli: From Radical to Reactionary' “Santagata’s Boccaccio presents us with a portrait of the great Florentine writer that is rich in historical detail, exquisitely sensitive to the particular mix of literary tradition and innovation that Boccaccio represented, and brilliantly evocative of the fourteenth-century Florentine environment out of which Boccaccio emerged. Attending to Boccaccio’s work in both Latin and the Tuscan vernacular, Santagata has produced a magnum opus that will be the standard biography for years to come.” -- Christopher S. Celenza, author of 'Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer' “In this engaging biography, a master scholar brings Giovanni Boccaccio to life through sensitive readings of virtually all his writings and an impressive command of both secondary and archival sources. This richly informative study offers a completely new portrait of Boccaccio that will breathe new life into our understanding of Italian Renaissance literature.” -- Guido Ruggiero, author of 'Love and Sex in the Time of Plague: A Decameron Renaissance'

""A striking picture . . . [and] a wonderfully clear and vivid window onto the life of a pivotal figure in the history of Italian literature. When seen in the proper light, it glistens with wit and originality.” * Literary Review * ""Mr. Santagata writes with a well-tuned awareness of previous Boccaccio biographies, without ever seeming pedantic or nitpicking. . . . He does so without assuming more authority than is warranted — perhaps because he realizes that he, too, may be subject to revision."" * New York Sun * ""A tremendously detailed and readable work, very likely the best biography this writer has had since the one John Addington Symonds wrote back in 1895."" * Open Letters Review * ""This painstakingly researched biography, scrupulously pieced together from numerous sources, warrants praise for many reasons..."" * Engelsberg Ideas * “A well-informed, learned, scholarly, comprehensive, ambitious, imaginative, justly critical, authoritative, accessible biography of one of the titans of Italian literature, and the founding father of modern Italian prose writing.” -- Robert Black, author of 'Machiavelli: From Radical to Reactionary' “Santagata’s Boccaccio presents us with a portrait of the great Florentine writer that is rich in historical detail, exquisitely sensitive to the particular mix of literary tradition and innovation that Boccaccio represented, and brilliantly evocative of the fourteenth-century Florentine environment out of which Boccaccio emerged. Attending to Boccaccio’s work in both Latin and the Tuscan vernacular, Santagata has produced a magnum opus that will be the standard biography for years to come.” -- Christopher S. Celenza, author of 'Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer' “In this engaging biography, a master scholar brings Giovanni Boccaccio to life through sensitive readings of virtually all his writings and an impressive command of both secondary and archival sources. This richly informative study offers a completely new portrait of Boccaccio that will breathe new life into our understanding of Italian Renaissance literature.” -- Guido Ruggiero, author of 'Love and Sex in the Time of Plague: A Decameron Renaissance'

“A well-informed, learned, scholarly, comprehensive, ambitious, imaginative, justly critical, authoritative, accessible biography of one of the titans of Italian literature, and the founding father of modern Italian prose writing.” -- Robert Black, author of 'Machiavelli: From Radical to Reactionary' “Santagata’s Boccaccio presents us with a portrait of the great Florentine writer that is rich in historical detail, exquisitely sensitive to the particular mix of literary tradition and innovation that Boccaccio represented, and brilliantly evocative of the fourteenth-century Florentine environment out of which Boccaccio emerged. Attending to Boccaccio’s work in both Latin and the Tuscan vernacular, Santagata has produced a magnum opus that will be the standard biography for years to come.” -- Christopher S. Celenza, author of 'Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer' “In this engaging biography, a master scholar brings Giovanni Boccaccio to life through sensitive readings of virtually all his writings and an impressive command of both secondary and archival sources. This richly informative study offers a completely new portrait of Boccaccio that will breathe new life into our understanding of Italian Renaissance literature.” -- Guido Ruggiero, author of 'Love and Sex in the Time of Plague: A Decameron Renaissance'

Author Information

Marco Santagata (1947–2020) was professor of Italian literature at the University of Pisa and the author of many books, including Dante: The Story of His Life.  Emlyn Eisenach is an independent scholar and translator and the author of Husbands, Wives, and Concubines: Marriage, Family, and Social Order in Sixteenth-Century Verona.

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