The aim of this essay is to analyse the story of Alatiel in its philosophical context, comparing the novella with the erotic and ethic conceptions in Middle Ages. From this point of view, it is possible to recognize two models in the story: the first is embodied by the lovers of the young woman and their savage behaviour, which seems to annihilate reason and morals, in line with the comment of Dino del Garbo to Donna me Prega. The second model is proposed by Alatiel, forced to indulge fortune’s will. Around this antithesis Boccaccio develops his narrative technique, switching focalization from Alatiel to her lovers, and again to Alatiel, to debate about one of the most important themes of the whole Decameron: human action between the context created by the fortune and moral choice.
University of L'Aquila, Italy
Chapter Title
Il fantasma di Alatiel: desiderio, parola e memoria in Decameron II 7
Authors
Matteo Petriccione
Language
Italian
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-236-2.03
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2020
Copyright Information
© 2020 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Intorno a Boccaccio / Boccaccio e dintorni 2019
Book Subtitle
Atti del Seminario internazionale di studi (Certaldo Alta, Casa di Giovanni Boccaccio, 12-13 settembre 2019)
Editors
Giovanna Frosini
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
294
Publication Year
2020
Copyright Information
© 2020 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-236-2
ISBN Print
978-88-5518-235-5
eISBN (pdf)
978-88-5518-236-2
eISBN (epub)
978-88-5518-237-9
Series Title
Studi e saggi
Series ISSN
2704-6478
Series E-ISSN
2704-5919