Dirty Books
Barbara Newman: Boccaccio’s Reputation, 14 August 2025
Boccaccio: A Biography
by Marco Santagata, translated by Emlyn Eisenach.
Chicago, 457 pp., £30, May,978 0 226 82094 1 Show More
by Marco Santagata, translated by Emlyn Eisenach.
Chicago, 457 pp., £30, May,
Boccaccio Defends Literature
by Brenda Deen Schildgen.
Toronto, 287 pp., £59, February,978 1 4875 5891 8 Show More
by Brenda Deen Schildgen.
Toronto, 287 pp., £59, February,
“... 1347 but Santagata, his biographer, died in the plague of 2020. His book, awkwardly translated by Emlyn Eisenach, has a telling subtitle in Italian: ‘Fragilità di un genio’. Santagata argues that Boccaccio suffered from ‘psychological fragility’ that often led to self-sabotage. Emotionally unstable and intellectually restless, he experienced ... ”
