In his introduction to the Decameron, Rebhorn reminds us that the root meaning of “translate” is to take something across a border or a boundary, to bring that which is foreign or strange from one language and age into another. However, since few of us are fluent in 14th century Italian, or well-versed in the customs and politics of that time, we need someone like Rebhorn to make these stories live for us again. Horace said literature should be both sweet and useful-we want a good story, but we also want to learn about ourselves.”Īnd there is much we can learn about ourselves today from a man born 700 years ago in a time and place far removed from our own. “But the stories also underscore the importance of using language well to enrich our lives. “Some of the stories are astoundingly funny,” says Rebhorn, a professor in the Department of English whose recent translation of the Decameron has received prominent and widespread critical acclaim. They agree to a plan to tell each other stories-100 in all-over a two-week period (taking the weekends off), with love the prevailing theme. By Giovanni Boccaccio, translated by Wayne Rebhorn, professor, Department of Englishīoccaccio set his stories in an idyllic Tuscan landscape, where seven women and three men have fled from the horrors of plague-invested Florence.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |