Boccaccio nel Seicento: censure e recuperi della "compassione"

SIMONA MORANDO, Boccaccio in the sixteenth century: censorship and recovery ofthe «compassion» In the introduction of this paper, the literature of the seventeenth century is defined as a writing of compassion but not of consolation (quotations from Giovanni Cisano, Torquato Accetto, Emanuele Tesauro, G. B. Marino). The distance between the writers studied here and Boccaccio is due to the censored editions of the Decameron in sixteenth century, to the censorship of Boccaccio as a «maestro d’amore», to his unrefined language, to his interpretation by many critics as a light and burlesque author. But, as reported in a writing by Boccalini, Boccaccio’s Latin works are very much appreciated in seventeenth century literature. This is especially the case of De casibus virorum illustrium, a gloomy and pessimistic book about misfortunes of famous men and about compassion, which nevertheless believes in the ability of letters to give back fame to ruined men. As shown in the conclusion through some writings by Tassoni, many other seventeenth century authors do not have this kind of hope.