Ebook: The parabola of pleasure: A study of the ’cornice’ of the ’Decameron’

In this dissertation I examine the narrative parts of the so-called cornice of the Decameron. The core of my interpretation is to be found in Chapter I where I show that the frame story--the novella portante, as it has been called--with its "parabolic" rather than "rectilinear" progression is intended to illustrate the brigade's pursuit of pleasure, without any ulterior motive such as, for instance, the restructuring of the decaying Florentine society. A careful study of the members of the brigade (Chapter II) and of their songs (Chapter III) obviously forms an integral part of any analysis of the frame story. The Appendix deals with the illustrations of the cornice: the rich iconographic tradition of the Decameron, at least before this century, appears to have accorded more significance to the frame story than has literary criticism.