The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron Why do so few of us know about it?

If Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio were not familiar contemporaries, something must have been in that early Renaissance water that made them turn out similar pieces of literary work. Bawdy and tawdry, ribald and risque-, for years amused readers simply haven't expected this kind of explicit literature from a string of tales from medieval folk. But why should we be surprised?
Of course, Boccaccio knew his tales would be offensive to some, or he wouldn't have written an entire litany of justifications on his decision to write out 100 tales for a group of modest and virtuous young women. He analogizes that fire has its good uses and shouldn't be hated because of its capacity to destroy homes, so are his tales. He continues: weapons are useful when they defend people while at the same time they can kill men, and even Scriptures, which are generally good for the many, can at times be wrongly interpreted and have sent people to 'perdition'. ?? " So are my tales".

"" No corrupt mind ever understands words healthily, and just as such people do not enjoy virtuous words, so the well-disposed person cannot be harmed by words which are somewhat less than virtuous. Can mud sully sunlight or can filthy earth mud the beauty of the skies?""

Does his claim hold to reality? Are we contaminated by the stuff we read, or is Jesus right, that the heart defiles a man?
Either way, Boccaccio challenges the church, to whom he was satirizing, to use his tales for whatever purposes- for good or ill.