In 1353, the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio completed one of the most important works of fiction in history, _The Decameron_. The book tells the story of ten young aristocrats – seven women and three men – who spend ten days together, passing the time by taking turns telling different stories. The occasion for their gathering might resonate all-too-well for readers today, for these young men and women were fleeing a pandemic.
The Bubonic Plague had hit Biccaccio’s city of Florence badly — historians acknowledge that as many as 50% of the population of parts of Western Europe died in the 1347/48 outbreak. But whereas many people turned their backs on their friends and family or involved themselves in other destructive habits, Boccaccio’s characters formed a community with each other in response to the deaths.
Boccaccio’s preface to the book tells of the devastating plague and the various responses to it, with the author inserting his own opinion: “To have compassion for those who suffer is a human quality which everyone should possess.”
Source(s): Image wikipedia painting by John Waterhouse, _A Tale from the Decameron_, 1916. Painting located in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, England.
