Giovanni Boccaccio - The Decameron
Mentor Books ME2134, 1982
Cover: A detail from Botticelli's 'Nastagio degli Onesti' in the Prado, Madrid

The Decameron: 8th story of the 5th day:

The tale, Nastagio degli Onesti, is one of The Decameron’s stories about lovers who survive misfortunes and find happiness. Nastagio suffers rejection from the daughter of Paolo Traversaro to whom he proposes. Supposedly she turns him down because of her extraordinary beauty and exalted rank. Nastagio plunges into despair, considers suicide, but is persuaded by his friends to get away to the sea to hang out alone for a while. Occasionally he invites friends to have dinner with him in his pavilions under the trees.

One day Nastagio, walking about the woods, comes upon this nightmarish chase. The beautiful, nude young woman is torn apart by the dogs. The crazed knight jumps from his horse, knocks down the woman, cuts out her heart with his knife and feeds it to the dogs. Within moments, the girl jumps to her feet and continues with her desperate flight. The knight explains to the horrified Nastagio that both of them have long been dead but at one time he had proposed marriage to the girl and she had rejected him. Now both are condemned to this cruel punishment by God: the knight for committing suicide over his depression at being rejected and the girl for rejecting the man due to her hard, cold heart. They are eternally doomed to repeat the chase. Every Friday at the same hour he overtakes her in the same woods and attacks her.

After they depart, Nastagio stands alone, disturbed and horrified. But he’s a practical man and begins to form a plan.

The next Friday he invites Paolo Traversaro and his family to an outdoor banquet. As the final course is being served, the hellish attack plays out. The girls at the banquet especially draw back in horror, upsetting a table and dashing dishes to the ground. One figure stands in composure: Nastagio in the foreground in blue tunic, red tights, and yellow boots. He explains to the crowd the meaning behind the ghosts and the chase to which they are doomed. The moral seems to be: Ladies, comply with men’s wishes! It has to be the rare Renaissance woman who turns down an appropriate and willing suitor.

Tags:   mentor paperback classic italian literature

© All Rights Reserved

Oscar Williams (editor) - The Mentor Book of Major British Poets
Mentor Books MQ529, 1963
Cover Artist: unknown

Tags:   mentor vintage paperback classic english literature poetry union jack

© All Rights Reserved

Klaus Mehnert - Peking and Moscow
Mentor Books MQ598, 1964
Cover Artist: S. Neil Fujita

Tags:   mentor vintage paperback non-fiction s. neil fujita

© All Rights Reserved

John Crompton - The Life of the Spider
Mentor Books M105, 1954
Cover Artist: Stanley Meltzoff

Tags:   mentor vintage paperback

© All Rights Reserved

Jacob Burckhardt - The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
Mentor Books MT 321, 1961
Cover Artist: Simon Greco

Tags:   mentor vintage paperback S. Greco

© All Rights Reserved