Works by Giovanni. Giovanni Boccaccio: biography and best works. See what “Boccaccio, Giovanni” is in other dictionaries

Also one of the founders of the Italian Renaissance (Cinquecento) is no less famous humanist than Petrarch, poet and novelist Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375). A contemporary of Petrarch, his friend and closest literary and spiritual associate, Boccaccio began his creative career as a poet, not without the influence of Dante and Petrarch. He lived for some time in Florence, as a fan of Dante, did a lot to spread Dante’s legacy, gave lectures on the work of the great poet, and spoke especially highly of the Divine Comedy.

Boccaccio's work was influenced by his origin: he was born in Paris, his father was an Italian merchant from Florence, and his mother was French. Boccaccio was taken to Italy as an infant and has not been to Paris since then. The duality of life did not allow Boccaccio, to some extent, to become the whole person that time required. But at the same time, it was precisely the duality of life that instilled in the future writer that knowledge of life, without which he would not have succeeded as a novelist, laying down new methods of artistic representation in literature. Because Boccaccio managed to note the most unknown, inconspicuous, small features of real life and express them in the work in their terrible ugly ugliness, which prevents a person from truly feeling the joy of life, which the writer portrayed so vividly, so naturally, like no one before him in literature. Therefore, as a young man, he deliberately, contrary to the will of his father, avoided the fate of being a merchant and a boring, self-interested lawyer, and became a writer.

In the life of Boccaccio, like Dante, Petrarch had his own Muse. She did not leave such a mark in literature as Beatrice and Laura, but she became the image of Fiametta, the heroine that permeates almost every work of Giovanni Boccaccio in almost all the works of the short story writer. Under this name hides the real life Maria d'Aquino, according to some information the natural daughter of the King of Naples, Robert of Anjou.

Just as Petrarch played with the name of Laura (Laura - laurel), it was no coincidence that Boccaccio gave his heroine the name Fiametta: literally a light. A living flame that kindles true earthly natural love. This is how the writer’s muse differs from Dante’s Beatrice - for him she is a divine spirit, a pure soul; from Laura - a real woman, but Petrarch’s love is still not so much earthly, but rather sublime, ideal. In addition, unlike his brothers in the pen, Boccaccio lived with Maria for some time, gaining recognition from her for his writing talent. He did not stop speaking about her naturally and enthusiastically even after parting with her. That is why the theme of love in the writer’s work becomes central to his artistic views.

Boccaccio's early works in their own way prepared him for the novel "The Decameron", which became the result of the writer's creative development, an expression of his own artistic style and vision. Whereas in the stories “Filocolo” (the first story), the poems “Philostrato”, “Theseid”, “Ameto”, “Love Vision”, “Fiesolan Nymphs”, “Fiametta” there are a lot of influences from ancient literature(their lyrical works of Virgil, Ovid, constant artistic references to ancient myths), in the works one can find motifs of Dante, refractions of French literature, and most importantly - in almost all of Boccaccio’s works he presents texts in an organic interweaving of prose with poetry. In this way, new genre developments in literature are created.

Behind the external plot of fiction, the features of real people appear, the hidden nature of man becomes visible, which is typical only for this era. Thus, in the pastoral of Ameto, feelings break through the bucolic nature modern man, already concealing his experiences inside himself. Her hero, a savage shepherd, ceases to be such under the influence of the sophistication of the nymphs around him. He is no longer afraid to show his passion. He realizes that it is criminal and unnatural to remain silent about his feelings. Boccaccio expresses the manifestation of human nature especially vigorously in the poem “The Fiesolan Nymphs.” The writer's cheerfulness, irony, and satire found their way out in the depiction of the love of two young people, Afriko and Menzola. Here you can see the real feelings of a person:

Cupid tells me to sing. The time has come.

He spent the summer in his heart, as in his home.

Magnificence has bound my heart,

The shine was blinding; I didn't find a shield

When the soul was penetrated by rays

Shining eyes. She owns me

What, night and day of tears and sighs

Weaving, tormenting, is the fault of my torment.

Cupid guides and motivates me

In the work that I dared to begin!

Cupid strengthens me for feats,

Both gift and power - his stamp is on everything!

Cupid guides and enlightens me,

Instilling in me a duty to tell about him!

Cupid picked me up to recreate

An old love story!

The goddess Diana is deliberately introduced into the poem, asserting medieval asceticism, demanding to despise men, as befits the Amazons. The poet creates a kind of satire on it, calling on people not to be shy, not to be ashamed of their natural feelings, and most importantly, not to enslave human nature with false reasoning about the primacy of spirit over matter. For the first time, Boccaccio appears as a champion of the natural principle in man. Such an image was a new word in literature and had a developing beginning.

In the story “Fiametta,” Boccaccio made his first bid to depict human psychology, thereby approaching the realism of the image. Taking as a basis the plot of the discord between lovers and placing the heroine’s experiences in the foreground, Boccaccio achieved a deep analysis of the human soul, which is conveyed through the appropriate storytelling technique - the heroine’s monologue speech. What was also new was that for the first time in European literature, at the center of the narrative, the active heroine was a woman, who had previously been only the subject of lofty praises and amorous sighs. True, Boccaccio did not quite succeed in conveying the life traits of an earthly woman. Fiametta carries with it some of the artificiality inherent in the traditions of medieval literature. Nevertheless, her image was the first experience of the writer’s close attention to the inner side of human nature.

The path to the Decameron was paved by Boccaccio through his stormy political activities in his native Florence in the mid-14th century. Many of the writer’s thoughts and experiences of those years formed the basis of The Decameron. In Florence, Boccaccio led one of the craft workshops in the struggle for a better life. The performances of Florentine artisans were perhaps the first in Europe to lead to open clashes with the ruling authorities. These were the troubled years of 1343-1345 with the slogans “Down with taxes!” and “Death to the fat townspeople!”, then the unrest of artisans swept almost all of Italy, this is the so-called movement of the Ciompi - unskilled workers. So in 1371 performances took place in the Tuscan cities of Perugia and Siena. In Florence in 1378, after the death of Boccaccio, a real Ciompi uprising broke out. And although the writer did not live to see this date, the movement of artisans was reinforced by the recent striking deeds of Boccaccio.

Italian life in all its angles, nuances and subtleties of the manifestation of human nature was widely, deeply, objectively included in the artistic panorama of the novel “The Decameron”, written by Boccaccio according to approximate data in 1352-1354.

The writer knew medieval literature well, its genre features, ancient literature, to a greater extent its Greek pages, studied the origins of folk literature, its folklore origins, from which he drew many techniques and means of reflecting reality. Boccaccio paid attention to what was at the epicenter of folk wisdom, was the basis of a living spoken language, everything that caused healthy popular laughter and contempt and ridicule of the same strength. And like Dante, who solved enormous problems of improving man, Boccaccio chose the only correct genre at that time - the short story. It is this genre that would reach the mind and heart of every person, and not just a dignitary, important rank, which was of less concern to the writer, although Boccaccio had such a person in mind in the first place. Boccaccio needed democracy and accessibility. Therefore, the novella became a kind of amazing means - a public mouthpiece that allowed Boccaccio to talk about the most hidden corners of human nature in general.

Novella (from Italian, news) is a narrative prose genre, less often poetic, representing a small form of epic. The term “short story” is often used as a synonym for the Russian term “story,” but the short story has its own specific features. The short story should be considered as a specific and, in particular, concrete historical type of small form of narration. The small form of storytelling has existed since the dawn of the development of literature. In its proper sense, it emerges precisely during the Renaissance. The novella first appeared in Italian literature of the 14th and 15th centuries. The plots of the novella were borrowed from previous literature and folklore. But the Renaissance short story is fundamentally different from the short story of the previous time.

During the Renaissance, the process of formation of personality, individual human consciousness and behavior took place. Under feudalism, a person acted as a part of a certain community of people - an estate. A knightly or monastic order, a guild, a peasant community. Man had no personal will, no individual worldview. And only in the new era does the process of releasing the personal element in each individual begin. It is this complex historical process that causes the birth of a new literary genre - the short story.

In the short story, for the first time, a multifaceted artistic exploration of people's personal, private lives is carried out. Early literature depicted people in their immediate social activities, in their “official” appearance. Even if it was about love, family relationships, friendship, spiritual quests or the struggle for the existence of an individual, the hero of the work acted primarily as a representative of a certain community of people, perceived and assessed everything around him, himself - his behavior, consciousness from the point of view of interests and ideals this community. Hence, personal relationships did not receive complete and independent reflection. Although in previous literature there was a sphere of literature where the private life of a person was depicted, it was depicted in a comic, satirical form (farce, satires, fabliaux), and the person appeared in his base, pitiful, unworthy features. Such literature did not create objectivism in the depiction of man. And only the short story finally brought literature closer to an objective depiction of an individual person with his – personal – problems, experiences, and whole life.

The novel objectively, multilaterally, large-scale and closely reflects human nature. Hence, the short story usually displays the private actions and experiences of people, their personal, sometimes intimate details. But that doesn't mean it. That the novella is devoid of social urgency, social and historical content. On the contrary, in the conditions of the collapse of the feudal system, the liberation and formation of the individual acquired an acute social meaning. This in itself was a rebellion against the old world. This determined the severity of the conflicts reflected in the short story, although it was often about everyday everyday situations.

The new content also determined the novel's innovative artistic form. If earlier literature was dominated by clearly defined genre canons - ode and satire, heroic and farce, tragic and comic, then the short story is characterized by a prose neutral style. Recreating the versatility and multicolor of the elements of private life. At the same time, the novella is characterized by sharp, intense action and a dramatic plot, because in it the individual faces the laws and norms of the old world. The action of the novella takes place in ordinary, everyday life, but the plot gravitates toward the unusual and sharply disrupts the measured flow of everyday life.

The artistic originality of the short story is rooted in the contradictory combination of a picture of prosaic, everyday life and acute, extraordinary, sometimes even fantastic events and situations, as if exploding from within the habitual, orderly movement of life.

Boccaccio in “The Decameron” starts from the huge heritage of created literature (ancient, folk, medieval, borrowed from other literatures, such as oriental, for example, etc.). But putting forward as its goal the glorification of the “healthy sensual principle” in a person, it comes largely not from literary sources familiar to the medieval reader - for example, the collection “Novellino”, which consisted of 100 small everyday stories, anecdotes about man and human life, but from the work of Dante primarily from his “Divine Comedy”.

How Dante Boccaccio creates a complete canvas of human nature as it is. And sketching out a multi-colored palette of human diversity, the writer thought about what urgently needs to free a person from. Therefore, internal composition has much in common with the construction of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”: 100 short stories, the first introductory one, identifying everything unworthy that is in a person according to the principle of gradually exposing the inner nature of an individual as one of the types of humanity - like entering the abyss of Dante’s hell, statement cheerfulness, the life-affirmation of a person as in the purgatory of the “Divine Comedy” and, finally, Boccaccio’s vision of a state structure that would allow a person to reveal only the best sides of his nature - this is the construction of an ideal society in the novel according to the principle of the life structure of the heroes as in Dante’s Paradise.

At the same time, Boccaccio uses his distinctive artistic technique - he follows the mathematical principle of “inverse proportionality” in his narration: presenting the reader with a gallery of his impartial heroes, the writer thereby demands from each of us an understanding of what kind of person one really needs to be at this moment life is a fleeting, impetuous moment, but the only one desired and necessary for a person, for we have no other life.

Hence the hundred short stories in the novel: the number 100 as humanity’s calling to harmony, to order, to unity with its own nature. Therefore, what is new in Boccaccio’s novella is that he not only creates a completely new genre, but that he turns it into a psychological excursion into the labyrinths of human nature. This is the main difference between Boccaccio’s novella and all previous and modern literature.

At the same time, the writer himself calls his work differently and uses the technique of detachment, so as not to impose his point of view on the reader for the emergence of other – non-author’s conclusions, which leads to the generation not of edification, but of a manifestation of moralism, naturally generated by the reader himself: “... I intend to inform to the aid and entertainment of those who love... a hundred short stories, or, as we call them, fables, parables and stories, told over the course of ten days in the company of seven ladies and young men during the destructive time of the last plague... In these short stories there will be funny and sad cases of love and other extraordinary incidents that happened in both modern and ancient times. By reading them, ladies will at the same time receive pleasure from the amusing adventures they contain and useful advice, since they will learn what they should avoid and what they should strive for. I think that both will do without diminishing the boredom; if, God willing, this is exactly what happens, may they thank Cupid, who, having freed me from his bonds, gave me the opportunity to serve their pleasure.”

Academician A.N. Veselovsky’s description is correct: “Boccaccio captured a living, psychologically true trait - passion for life at the threshold of death.”

It is no coincidence that Boccaccio begins his narrative with a description of the plague - a real event in the life of European countries - from 1348. But the plague in the novel is both a historical event, and an artistic background as a plot, and a philosophical generalization about the results of human behavior and actions. Boccaccio’s description of the plague is comparable to Homer’s “Iliad”, it began when “Phoebus the silver-bow, angered by the king, brought an evil plague upon the army... the nations perished...”. But the author of “The Decameron” makes everything more prosaic and even more terrible:

“So, I will say that 1348 years have passed since the beneficial incarnation of the Son of God, when Florence. The most beautiful of all Italian cities, was struck by a deadly plague, which, either under the influence of heavenly bodies, or due to our sins sent by the righteous wrath of God on mortals, several years before opened in the regions of the east and, depriving them of countless numbers of inhabitants, constantly moving places on place, has reached, growing deplorably, to the west...”

In an effort to protect themselves from the plague in its literal and figurative sense, the heroes of the novel, according to the author’s plan, having met by chance in the church of Santa Maria Novella, leave their cities, engulfed in plague, to country estates - to the bosom of nature, where there is healthy air, in which they will not only preserve their health, but will have a wonderful (useful) time:

“Of these, we will call the first and eldest Pampinea, the second Fiammetta, the third Philomena, the fourth Emilia, then Lauretta the fifth, the sixth Neifila, the last, not without reason, Eliza. All of them gathered in one part of the church, not with intention, but by accident...”

The age of ladies and young maidens is not more than 28 years of age and not less than 18 years of age. They were then joined by three young men no younger than 25 years of age. These are Pamphilo, Filostrato and Dioneo. From the point of view of researchers, the names of the heroes, both beautiful ladies and young men, carry certain biographical information of Boccaccio himself. Thus, under the name of Fiammetta lies the collective image of his beloved, and under the names of the young men is the writer himself at different times in his life.

The writer, “taking” his heroes away from the plague city, by means of extrapolation creates with them a completely new world. And this world is not a ghostly idea, an imaginary ideal world as a utopia, but a completely achievable world in the image of a constitutional monarchy, of which the writer himself was a supporter. At the same time, Boccaccio takes into account all aspects and nuances of creating such a society and government structure.

The first thing the writer does is deliberately localize this space: “It lay on a small hillock, somewhat distant from the roads on all sides, full of various bushes and green plants, pleasing to the eye.” Locality is necessary for the emerging world, since the real activity existing around will give the world nothing but the plague and its consequences, firstly; and secondly, the new world should arise only from its pure “cells”. The second thing that Boccaccio creates is an equally beautiful space of their existence, in which everything is taken into account down to the smallest details of ordinary life: “At the top stood a palazzo with a beautiful, extensive courtyard inside, with open galleries, halls and chambers, beautiful both individually and in general, decorated with wonderful paintings; All around there are clearings and lovely gardens, wells of fresh water and cellars full of expensive wines, which is more suitable for connoisseurs than for moderate and modest ladies. Much to their satisfaction, the company found the weight swept away upon their arrival; in the chambers there were prepared beds, everything was covered with flowers that could be obtained according to the time of year, and with reeds.”

It is necessary to pay attention to the words “beautiful”, “wonderful”, “charming”, “fresh”, “dear”, which convey the subtleties of a truly organized ideal world. Such a beautiful natural world must correspond to the state organization of human life, which is what the author creates in the first pages of the novel. The heroine of the novel Pampinea, by right the eldest among all, pronounces the following words:

“... let us live cheerfully; it is not for any other reason that we ran away from sorrows. But since weight that knows no measure does not last long, I, who began the conversations that led to the formation of such a nice society, wish that our fun would last, and therefore I think it necessary for us all to agree that there should be someone in charge among us, whom we would honor and obey as the greatest and the weight of whose thoughts would be directed towards ensuring that we live cheerfully. But in order that everyone may experience both the burden of care and the pleasure of honor, and in choosing between both, no one, without experiencing both, will feel envy, I believe that each of us, in turn, should be assigned a day and a burden and honor: let the first one be elected by all of us, the subsequent ones appointed..."

These words present a clearly visible image of a constitutional monarchy. The writer's own political views are revealed here. The essence of the political views of the author of the “Decameron” is that despite the active and violent protests of artisans almost throughout Italy, and especially in Florence and other southern city-states, and the fact that the writer himself headed one of the Florentine workshops, Boccaccio did not particularly believe due to illiterate ordinary people. Therefore, while advocating republican order, he leaned towards a monarchy, albeit a constitutional one.

At the same time, Boccaccio not only names the model of state power, but creates all the corresponding structures of this government. The first thing we pay attention to is that the heroes go on a forced trip to the countryside with their servants, who help them in maintaining this lifestyle:

“... they happily answered that they were ready, and, without delaying matters, before going their separate ways, they agreed on what they were to arrange for the trip. Having ordered to properly prepare everything necessary and having sent in advance to notify where they were going to go, the next morning, that is, on Wednesday, at dawn, the ladies with several servants and three young men with three servants, leaving the city, set off on their way ... "

Boccaccio, reflecting on the ideal form of government for the people, provided for the social division of society, if not into rich and poor, but into masters and their servants. Servants in the novel enjoy the same privileges as their masters: they are not disadvantaged or diminished in any way, they eat and drink the same “foods” and “wines”, they are also free, they go about their business in their own time. Their only duty is to zealously and carefully look after their masters, which they do with great pleasure:

“... having entered the hall of the lower floor, they (gentlemen - M.D. emphasized by us) saw tables covered with snow-white tablecloths, the charms glittered like silver and were strewn with thorn flowers. After the water had been supplied by order of the queen to wash their hands, everyone went to the places assigned by Parmeno. Finely prepared dishes and exquisite wines appeared, and, without wasting time or words, three servants began to serve at the table; and so everything was well and in order, everyone was in a great mood and dined amid pleasant jokes and fun. When they cleared the table, the queen ordered instruments to be brought... they began to play a lovely dance, and the queen, having sent the servants away to dinner, formed a circle with other ladies and two young men and began to quietly walk in a circular dance...” Is it possible after this to note any humiliating or slavish attitude of masters towards their servants? The gentlemen themselves live according to the only main law: “to everyone in general who values ​​​​our favor, we present our desire and demand that, wherever he goes, wherever he returns from, no matter what he hears or sees, he refrains from telling us any news from outside, except cheerful ones.” All news, every story should carry a charge of cheerfulness, optimism in life, and also be, first of all, useful. And this is the unwritten law of the wonderful society of the Decameron.

Having thus “arranged” an ideal society, Boccaccio, as an author, begins to create corresponding human types based on this model of government. Hence the philosophical idea to “force” his heroes to talk about the various qualities of human nature. This is how the genre form of the novel is determined: “Decameron” means a ten-day diary. Over the course of ten days, short stories are told on various topics - a kind of diary is kept according to the structure of the novel. The modern understanding of a diary is keeping records of any human incidents, with their analysis, which means this is to a certain extent a reflection of the psychological characteristics of an individual. This is the difference between Boccaccio's short stories and medieval narrative genres. Even the shortest stories contain elements of psychologism. Boccaccio is not categorical in his ideological position, does not impose his own judgments, but leaves acute, complex, and sometimes funny problems to be resolved by the reader himself. This does not mean that the author distances himself from the created situation. Already what the writer fixes our gaze on is his active participation in the statement have a wonderful life, pure life, healthy person- primarily in moral terms. In this regard, Boccaccio repeats Dante in a new way. And the only difference is that the Renaissance writer does not create the image of the terrible Lucifer, but brings him out from within - from the soul of every person contemporary with him, which in essence turns out to be much more terrible. That is, in Boccaccio’s short stories, a person exposes himself, his real inner self, as if looking into a living “talking” mirror.

That is why the artistic structure of the novel is holistic, compact and at the same time multi-stage. After all, the reader is presented with not one short story, but a whole chain. There are a kind of one-act short stories, built on a question-answer structure, but there are also multi-act ones, where we encounter real vicissitudes of fate. And such novellas come from the traditions of Greek novels. Sometimes the reader sees in front of him a colorful enchanting fairy tale, which is in the spirit of oriental stories, or sometimes he encounters an entire novel unfolding within the confines of one short story. A similar artistic structure of the novel “The Decameron” is in the spirit of the emerging Renaissance literary tradition.

So, for example, the short stories of the first day open with a short story about a certain Sir Ciappelletto, who during his life was a super-deceiver, but while dying, he managed to confess by cunning, and after his death he was canonized. The first day includes short stories with a short plot that essentially has only one incident. Such short stories are close to medieval epic literature.

This short story says that the hero was a notary “and it would be the greatest shame for him if any of his acts turned out to be not false... He bore false witness with great pleasure, asked and unsolicited; at that time in France they strongly believed in the oath, but he did not care about a false oath... It was his pleasure and concern to sow discord, enmity and scandals between friends, relatives and anyone else, and the more troubles came from him, the more it’s nicer to him.”

The outstanding Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), like Dante, was born in Florence. Little is known about his childhood. Boccaccio was about fourteen years old when his father, a fairly famous Florentine merchant, apprenticed the young man to a major merchant in Naples, an important commercial and cultural center of Italy at that time. Only outwardly obeying the will of his father, Boccaccio devoted all his free time to the study of literature, primarily Italian. Four years later, having come to terms with the fact that his son would not become a merchant, his father ordered him to study canon law, however, the lucrative profession of a lawyer did not attract Boccaccio.

Thanks to his father's money and position, Boccaccio was able to enter the secular and artistic society that surrounded the Neapolitan king Robert of Anjou. It was at this time that he met Giotto, the brightest figure of the Italian Pre-Renaissance, and was so impressed by the personality of this artist, architect, sculptor, poet and wit that he later made him one of the heroes of the Decameron. At the court of King Robert, Boccaccio also met Maria d'Aquino, who, in accordance with the concepts of medieval troubadour poets, became his lady of the heart; Boccaccio later brought her into the Decameron under the name of Fiammetta.

During this period of creativity (1336-1340) Boccaccio created a large number of poems praising Fiammetta, two poems and the novel “Filocolo”.

In 1340, his father's affairs went very badly, and Giovanni Boccaccio was forced to return to Florence. Boccaccio did not want to continue his father’s work and eventually became a diplomat in the service of the Florentine Republic, earning great authority in this field. At the same time, he continued to study literary creativity, created a number of works imbued with humanistic ideas. Thus, in “Ameto, or the Comedy of the Florentine Nymphs,” Boccaccio, in the image of the main character, the shepherd and hunter Ameto, presents an allegory of a man, at first rude and uncouth, and then softened under the influence of love and virtue so much that the transformed Ameto can contemplate the divine essence. The pinnacle of Boccaccio’s creativity was the creation of the collection of short stories “The Decameron” (1350-1353). During these same years, Boccaccio wrote treatises “On the vicissitudes of fate famous people", "The Origin of Pagan Gods" and others.

In 1363, Giovanni Boccaccio moved from Florence to the small town of Certaldo, devoting himself entirely to literary pursuits, and above all to the work of Dante. Boccaccio created the biographical work “The Life of Dante” and a commentary on the “Divine Comedy”, and in the last year of his life (1375) he gave public lectures dedicated to Dante’s great creation.

Giovanni Boccaccio - Italian poet and writer of the early Renaissance, humanist. Born in 1313, probably in June or July. He was born in Florence and became the fruit of the love of a Florentine merchant and a French woman. Perhaps it is because of his mother that some sources indicate Paris as his place of birth. Giovanni himself called himself Boccaccio da Certaldo - after the name of the area where his family came from.

Around 1330, Boccaccio moved to Naples: despite the boy’s literary talent, which was noticeable from an early age, his father saw him in the future only as a merchant, so he sent him to learn the intricacies of commerce. However, young Boccaccio showed neither ability nor interest in trading. The father eventually lost hope that his son would continue his work, and allowed him to study canon law. But Boccaccio did not become a lawyer; his only passion was poetry, to which he had the opportunity to devote himself only much later, after the death of his father in 1348.

Living in Naples, Boccaccio becomes part of the entourage of King Robert of Anjou. It was during this period that he became a poet and humanist. His friends were scientists, educated people, and influential people. Giovanni read ancient authors avidly, and the environment itself greatly contributed to the expansion of his ideas about the world. It is with Naples that a rather large period of its creative biography. In honor of his muse, whom he called Fiametta in his poems, he wrote a large number of poems; in addition, the poems “The Hunt of Diana”, “Theseid”, “Philostrato” were created, as well as a prose novel, which were of great importance for the formation of new Italian literature.

In 1340, his father, who by that time was completely bankrupt, demanded Boccaccio's return to Florence, although he, as before, was indifferent to commerce. Gradually, the humanist began to participate in the political and social life of the city. In 1341, a friendship appeared in his life, which he carried throughout his life - with Francesco Petrarch. Thanks to this relationship, Boccaccio began to take himself and life more seriously. He enjoyed great influence among the townspeople; he was often given diplomatic assignments on behalf of the Florentine Republic. Boccaccio devoted a lot of energy to educational work, aroused interest in antiquity and science, and personally copied ancient manuscripts.

In 1350-1353 Boccaccio wrote the main work of his life, which glorified him for centuries - “The Decameron” - a hundred short stories that were ahead of their time, creating a vivid panorama of Italian life, imbued with freethinking, lively humor, and ideas of humanism. Its success was simply stunning, and in different countries, into whose languages ​​it was immediately translated.

In 1363, Boccaccio left Florence and came to Certaldo, a small estate, where he completely immersed himself in his books and lived contentedly with little. The closer old age loomed, the more superstitious Boccaccio became, the more seriously he took faith and the church, but to say that a turning point occurred in his worldview would be a great exaggeration. This is evidenced by his work and the apogee of friendship and unity of views with Petrarch. With the works written during these years dedicated to Dante, literary criticism of a new type began to develop. He gave public lectures on the “Divine Comedy” until a serious illness knocked him down. The death of Petrarch made the strongest impression on Boccaccio; he outlived his friend by a little less than a year and a half. On December 21, 1375, the heart of the great humanist, one of the most educated people in Italy of his time, stopped.

Biography - BOCACCIO GIOVANNI (1313-1375)
Giovanni Boccaccio - Italian poet and writer of the early Renaissance, humanist. Born in 1313, probably in June or July. He was born in Florence and became the fruit of the love of a Florentine merchant and a French woman. Perhaps it is because of his mother that some sources indicate Paris as his place of birth. Giovanni himself called himself Boccaccio da Certaldo - after the name of the area where his family came from.
Around 1330, Boccaccio moved to Naples: despite the boy’s literary talent, which was noticeable from an early age, his father saw him in the future only as a merchant, so he sent him to learn the intricacies of commerce. However, young Boccaccio showed neither ability nor interest in trading. The father eventually lost hope that his son would continue his work, and allowed him to study canon law. But Boccaccio did not become a lawyer; his only passion was poetry, to which he had the opportunity to devote himself only much later, after the death of his father in 1348.
Living in Naples, Boccaccio becomes part of the entourage of King Robert of Anjou. It was during this period that he became a poet and humanist. His friends were scientists, educated people, and influential people. Giovanni read ancient authors avidly, and the environment itself greatly contributed to the expansion of his ideas about the world. A fairly large period of his creative biography is associated with Naples. In honor of his muse, whom he called Fiametta in his poems, he wrote a large number of poems; in addition, the poems “The Hunt of Diana”, “Theseid”, “Philostrato” were created, as well as a prose novel, which were of great importance for the formation of new Italian literature.
In 1340, his father, who by that time was completely bankrupt, demanded Boccaccio's return to Florence, although he, as before, was indifferent to commerce. Gradually, the humanist began to participate in the political and social life of the city. In 1341, a friendship appeared in his life, which he carried throughout his life - with Francesco Petrarch. Thanks to this relationship, Boccaccio began to take himself and life more seriously. He enjoyed great influence among the townspeople; he was often given diplomatic assignments on behalf of the Florentine Republic. Boccaccio devoted a lot of energy to educational work, aroused interest in antiquity and science, and personally copied ancient manuscripts.
In 1350-1353 Boccaccio wrote the main work of his life, which glorified him for centuries - “The Decameron” - a hundred short stories that were ahead of their time, creating a vivid panorama of Italian life, imbued with freethinking, lively humor, and ideas of humanism. Its success was simply stunning, and in different countries, into whose languages ​​it was immediately translated.
In 1363, Boccaccio left Florence and came to Certaldo, a small estate, where he completely immersed himself in his books and lived contentedly with little. The closer old age loomed, the more superstitious Boccaccio became, the more seriously he took faith and the church, but to say that a turning point occurred in his worldview would be a great exaggeration. This is evidenced by his work and the apogee of friendship and unity of views with Petrarch. With the works written in these years dedicated to Dante, a new type of literary criticism began to develop. He gave public lectures on the “Divine Comedy” until a serious illness knocked him down. The death of Petrarch made the strongest impression on Boccaccio; he outlived his friend by a little less than a year and a half. On December 21, 1375, the heart of the great humanist, one of the most educated people in Italy of his time, stopped.

(1313-1375) Italian writer

Boccaccio entered world culture mainly as the author of the famous Decameron. Books, like people, have their own reputations. The Decameron also has a reputation. Ask any person who is not very deeply familiar with the history of culture about it, and he will most likely say that this is a book about various love affairs, mostly of monks and rogues.

We can say that humanity has retained in its memory a very important aspect of the famous book. But only one side. She had others too. For example, the direct expression and defense of the high humanistic ideal, the defense of human virtues, nobility and generosity, courage and patience. In general, this book is diverse and shows human relationships from different sides. By analogy with Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” Italians have long called “The Decameron” a “human comedy.”

Boccaccio was a younger contemporary of Petrarch. Together with him, he became the great founder of the humanistic culture of the European Renaissance. However, the great Italian came to the humanism of the Renaissance in his own way.

Giovanni Boccaccio born in the second half of 1313 in Certaldo, a small town near Florence. Some sources indicate that he was born in Paris. But the story of his birth in Paris is the same legend as the version about the royal origin of his beloved Fiammetta. Giovanni was the son of the merchant Boccaccio di Kellino, associated with the richest banking houses of Bardi and Peruzzi.

Around 1330, Boccaccio settled in Naples, where, at the insistence of his father, he studied first commerce and then canon law. He did not turn out to be either a merchant or a lawyer. He was only interested in poetry. It was in Naples, surrounded by King Robert of Anjou, that Boccaccio became a poet and humanist. He voraciously read Virgil, Ovid, Titus Livy and Apuleius, studied less philology, but knew and felt very well the poetry of Dante, French chivalric novels and folk epics - cantari.

The main thing, however, was not the books. Boccaccio came to the humanistic discovery of the world and man not so much as a result of a new reading of the classics, but under the influence of direct perception of reality itself. For the young Florentine, Naples became a window into the bright and adventurous world of the Mediterranean - into the world of Homer, Arabs, sea robbers and merchant seafarers, who also often traded in corsairship. Contact with this world forced the future writer to think anew about the role that intelligence, generosity, courage, fate, chance play in a person’s life, and also instilled in him a love of romance, which was one of the most attractive aspects of his future works. Naples knocked Boccaccio out of the beaten rut of the class structure and opened his eyes to real life ordinary Italians.

At the court of King Robert, he met Maria D'Aquino, whom he glorified under the name of Fiammetta (“Spark”) in many works. A long period of Boccaccio’s work took place in Naples. Here, in addition to numerous poems glorifying Fiammetta, and the poem “The Hunt of Diana” , written under the influence of Dante's "New Life", he created a novel in prose and two large poems - "Philostrato" and "Theseide", associated with Italian adaptations of ancient stories and French chivalric romances. In the 14th-15th centuries, these works were extremely popular and played an important role in the formation of new Italian literature.

In 1340 Boccaccio had to return to Florence at the insistence of his ruined father. However, trading operations still did not interest him. He continued to study poetry and gradually became involved in social and political life hometown. Boccaccio was the first humanist in the service of the Florentine Republic. In the middle of the 14th century, he became one of its most authoritative diplomats. It was the Florentine people - the “popolos” - with their vital, social, and aesthetic ideals that helped Boccaccio to fully comprehend life. His daily life, interests and habits are reflected in the story “Fiammetta”, written in 1343.

The pinnacle of the writer's creativity - "The Decameron" - was written in 1350-1353. It is the earliest of the great books of modern literature. It appeared before Gargantua and Pantagruel, before Don Quixote. It was written at the dawn of European civilization. And at the same time, “The Decameron” is still an absolutely living book.

The fact that this work appeared so early is due to the peculiarities Italian history. The emergence of great literature is ultimately always a response to great historical events, marking the rise of the nation, an important step in its historical development. Thus, the elimination of feudal fragmentation, the strengthening of central power and the transformation of England into the mistress of the seas gave birth to Shakespeare and his galaxy.

The same thing happened in Italy, which in the 13th-14th centuries produced Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. Two centuries before this literary era, Italian cities defeated the feudal lords and became independent city-communes, whose life was free and democratic.

Boccaccio's critics tried to prove that the Decameron undermines the foundations of religion and morality. Objecting to hypocritical critics, the author said that if desired, obscenity can be found even in the Bible. He specifically stipulated that his short stories were not intended for burghers and their wives mired in hypocrisy - for those “who need to read the Lord’s Prayer or bake a pie or cake for their confessor.”

As plot material, Boccaccio equally used anecdotes, which made up a significant part of urban folklore, and religious and moral “examples” with which illustrious church ministers supplied sermons, as well as French fabliau and oriental tales, Apuleius’ “Metamorphoses” and oral stories of contemporary Florentines . All these narratives are framed as the stories of seven girls and three boys who decided to leave the plague-stricken city and enjoy communication with each other in one of the nearby estates.

The main thing in “The Decameron” was new ideas. This is not a collection of scattered stories, but an integral, internally complete work. Florence in it is not a conventional place of action. This is the real Florence of the 14th century, with its social structure, with its people, among whom there are famous cultural masters, with its memorable events. These include the terrible plague epidemic that struck " best city throughout Italy" in 1348 and carried away a huge amount human lives. WITH detailed description Boccaccio's plague and begins his book.

With remarkable frankness, he talks about the affairs of the Catholic clergy and, especially willingly, about the monastic brethren. He had predecessors in medieval short stories, but he surpassed them with the strength and brilliance of his bold talent. The author was not interested in dogmatic questions. He was attracted only by life in its diversity. And, of course, Boccaccio would not have been Boccaccio if he had not given a worthy place to earthly human love in his most significant work. Love in “The Decameron” is not only a riot of the flesh, it is a great feeling that can transform a person and raise him to a significant height. Many short stories of The Decameron tell about the strength and perseverance of love. For Boccaccio's heroes, without strong love there is no true life on earth. Moreover, among the reasons leading to the tragic outcome, class and property inequality occupies a special place.

From the pages of the Decameron, a living Italy, multifaceted and multicolored, looked at the reader. Of all the Italian cities, Boccaccio especially readily describes Florence and Naples. They are well known to him, a lot in his life is connected with them. While enjoying conversation and poetry, the Decameron's narrators continue to live a coherent social life. Laughter, joyful love of life and freedom that reign in the society they created arose not because the authority of both divine and human laws fell in plague-stricken Florence, but, on the contrary, because, despite the plague, the “republic of poets” remains faithful to the norms of universal humanity. morality. The society of storytellers of the Decameron is connected both with the very real Boccaccio and with modern Florence.

In "The Decameron" the writer was ahead of his age. The book was a huge success and was almost immediately translated into many languages. They laughed at her in Florence, London and Paris. In Italy she was cursed from church pulpits, which only increased her popularity. Collection genre short stories after Boccaccio became incredibly popular throughout European literature, but especially in Italy.

As old age approached, the impressionable and unbalanced writer, experiencing fear of death, began to attach greater importance to faith and church rituals. However, the work of the late Boccaccio does not give grounds to say that his worldview has seriously changed. This is also evidenced by his commonality with another great humanist - Francesco Petrarch, friendship with whom reaches its peak in these years.

The works written by Boccaccio in Latin are less original and interesting than his early poetry and "Decameron". Highest value from all the Latin works of Boccaccio for further development Renaissance literature throughout Europe had an extensive treatise on ancient mythology - “Genealogy of the Pagan Gods” (1350-1363). His treatises “On Famous Women” and “On the Misfortunes of Famous People” also aroused interest.

In the last period of his work, Boccaccio retained his interest in vernacular and to folk culture even in its most direct folklore manifestations. IN last years The writer’s dedication and his ability to anticipate the future direction of thought was manifested in his works on Dante, which laid the foundation for a new literary criticism.

Boccaccio always appreciated Dante's genius. He became the author of the first biography of the great poet, wrote a commentary on 17 songs of the Divine Comedy. About a year before his death, in October 1373, the writer received an assignment from the Florentine Commune to give public lectures on Dante's immortal poem. Boccaccio read them in the Church of San Stefano until January next year when illness forced him to give it up.

Boccaccio died in Certaldo on December 21, 1375. On the writer’s tombstone it is written: “His occupation was good poetry.” The humanism of Giovanni Boccaccio’s work is indestructible, like life itself. Interest in the Decameron and other works of the great Italian writer existed yesterday, exists today and will exist tomorrow.