The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Decameron (subtitle: Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Many notable writers such as Shakespeare and Chaucer are said to have borrowed from The Decameron. (from Wikipedia) (32 hr 41 min)
Chapters
Proem. | 7:23 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
How It Came About | 47:53 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 1, The First Story | 33:35 | Read by musil |
Day 1, The Second Story | 11:37 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 1, The Third Story | 7:57 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 1, The Fourth Story | 9:44 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 1, The Fifth Story | 7:40 | Read by Gesine |
Day 1, The Sixth Story | 6:07 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 1, The Seventh Story | 11:44 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 1, The Ninth Story | 3:37 | Read by Luigina |
Day 1, The Eighth Story | 6:31 | Read by Philippa |
Day 1, The Tenth Story | 10:42 | Read by miette |
Day 1, Conclusion | 8:16 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 2, Introduction | 1:59 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 2, The First Story | 13:32 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 2, The Second Story | 15:28 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 2, The Third Story | 27:20 | Read by miette |
Day 2, The Fourth Story | 11:59 | Read by Philippa |
Day 2, The Fifth Story | 32:13 | Read by Gesine |
Day 2, The Sixth Story | 29:50 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 2, The Seventh Story | 56:55 | Read by musil |
Day 2, The Eighth Story | 40:58 | Read by Luigina |
Day 2, The Ninth Story | 34:37 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 2, The Tenth Story | 18:50 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 2, Conclusion | 7:40 | Read by miette |
Day 3, Introduction | 8:38 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 3, The First Story | 15:10 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 3, The Second Story | 17:26 | Read by miette |
Day 3, The Third Story | 23:23 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 3, The Fourth Story | 13:39 | Read by musil |
Day 3, The Fifth Story | 16:29 | Read by Luigina |
Day 3, The Sixth Story | 21:26 | Read by Gesine |
Day 3, The Seventh Story | 38:24 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 3, The Eighth Story | 24:02 | Read by Philippa |
Day 3, The Ninth Story | 24:52 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 3, The Tenth Story | 14:15 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 3, Conclusion | 8:28 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 4, Introduction | 18:40 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 4, The First Story | 26:56 | Read by Gesine |
Day 4, The Second Story | 30:52 | Read by miette |
Day 4, The Third Story | 16:47 | Read by Philippa |
Day 4, The Fourth Story | 14:22 | Read by Luigina |
Day 4, The Fifth Story | 9:55 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 4, The Sixth Story | 19:54 | Read by musil |
Day 4, The Seventh Story | 9:31 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 4, The Eighth Story | 14:58 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 4, The Ninth Story | 7:59 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 4, The Tenth Story | 20:32 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 4, Conclusion | 7:15 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 5, Introduction | 2:41 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 5, The First Story | 29:33 | Read by musil |
Day 5, The Second Story | 13:30 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 5, The Third Story | 18:53 | Read by Luigina |
Day 5, The Fourth Story | 12:22 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 5, The Fifth Story | 16:01 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 5, The Sixth Story | 19:01 | Read by miette |
Day 5, The Seventh Story | 16:42 | Read by Philippa |
Day 5, The Eighth Story | 15:05 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 5, The Ninth Story | 17:05 | Read by Gesine |
Day 5, The Tenth Story | 20:11 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 5, Conclusion | 6:33 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 6, Introduction | 5:55 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 6, The First Story | 4:08 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 6, The Second Story | 11:59 | Read by miette |
Day 6, The Third Story | 4:59 | Read by Philippa |
Day 6, The Fourth Story | 7:13 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 6, The Fifth Story | 6:09 | Read by musil |
Day 6, The Sixth Story | 5:59 | Read by Gesine |
Day 6, The Seventh Story | 6:50 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 6, The Eighth Story | 3:43 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 6, The Ninth Story | 6:26 | Read by Luigina |
Day 6, The Tenth Story | 19:52 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 6, Conclusion | 15:41 | Read by Luigina |
Day 7, Introduction | 3:54 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 7, The First Story | 9:55 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 7, The Second Story | 10:54 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 7, The Third Story | 14:33 | Read by Luigina |
Day 7, The Fourth Story | 10:41 | Read by Philippa |
Day 7, The Fifth Story | 19:59 | Read by Gesine |
Day 7, The Sixth Story | 13:10 | Read by miette |
Day 7, The Seventh Story | 14:59 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 7, The Eighth Story | 22:01 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 7, The Ninth Story | 27:31 | Read by musil |
Day 7, The Tenth Story | 9:24 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 7, Conclusion | 7:00 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 8, Introduction | 1:54 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 8, The First Story | 7:51 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 8, The Second Story | 14:43 | Read by musil |
Day 8, The Third Story | 22:58 | Read by Luigina |
Day 8, The Fourth Story | 11:34 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 8, The Fifth Story | 8:00 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 8, The Sixth Story | 16:08 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 8, The Seventh Story | 1:13:26 | Read by miette |
Day 8, The Eighth Story | 12:28 | Read by Gesine |
Day 8, The Ninth Story | 37:26 | Read by Philippa |
Day 8, The Tenth Story | 27:53 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 8, Conclusion | 5:52 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 9, Introduction | 3:16 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 9, The First Story | 15:16 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 9, The Second Story | 8:33 | Read by Luigina |
Day 9, The Third Story | 10:25 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 9, The Fourth Story | 11:56 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 9, The Fifth Story | 21:32 | Read by Gesine |
Day 9, The Sixth Story | 12:15 | Read by musil |
Day 9, The Seventh Story | 7:28 | Read by miette |
Day 9, The Eighth Story | 8:47 | Read by Philippa |
Day 9, The Ninth Story | 11:43 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 9, The Tenth Story | 9:05 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 9, Conclusion | 5:34 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 10, Introduction | 2:19 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Day 10, The First Story | 8:34 | Read by Ruth Golding |
Day 10, The Second Story | 12:52 | Read by Luigina |
Day 10, The Third Story | 16:06 | Read by ontheroad |
Day 10, The Fourth Story | 17:49 | Read by Philippa |
Day 10, The Fifth Story | 11:06 | Read by Anna Simon |
Day 10, The Sixth Story | 16:55 | Read by Gesine |
Day 10, The Seventh Story | 23:37 | Read by miette |
Day 10, The Eighth Story, part 1 | 26:13 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 10, The Eighth Story, part 2 | 24:33 | Read by Jc Guan |
Day 10, The Ninth Story | 47:01 | Read by musil |
Day 10, The Tenth Story | 27:12 | Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) |
Day 10, Conclusion | 9:03 | Read by Gesine |
The Author's Epilogue | 13:29 | Read by Kristine Bekere |
Reviews
excellent stories, lackluster performance
sweeterswish2
I realize that this is a labor of love, but many of these short stories are unlistenable due to the reader's inability to perform the material. Day 1 the 7th story is read by some fellow who inflects at least 3 or for question marks into each sentence that reads. There is no way for me to follow the story, because of stilted and unnatural delivery. Again, I commend him for taking the time, but the editors of this archive should exert some level of quality control. It is as though someone were in the process of xeroxing a page from this book haphazardly, allowing the book to scoot across the photoglass while being copied; smearing all the words of the story on the copied page to illegibility. What good is that?
Wonderful
Brigit
Great tales. Ruth Golding and Andy Minter especially did a wonderful job reading and bringing Boccaccio's stories to life. As always, I'm not a fan of readers who have a thick non-native accent (sorry) as I find it hard to get used to their particular inflections and thus hard to focus.
Great BUT
moi
This is a marvellous collection, but a number of the ‘readings’ in English here are very poor, in fact, barely understandable. It is a great tragedy. This well-wrought translation would be greatly improved if narrated by those whose native tongue was English.
Wonderful, funny, amazing stories
Kevint60
Have not listened yet (dling now), but read this delightful book some years ago. The stories are amazingly contemporary, or love, lust, greed and intrigue have not changed at all in hundreds of years. Great book.
the Decameron readers
g. lane
Unable to understand the reader - disappointed. Was very much looking forward to this book
Better in smaller sections than listening as a single work, I feel.
Timothy Ferguson
Without commenting on the readers as other reviewers have done, I'd like to suggest that I may have spoiled the book for myself by listening to The Decameron as a single run through, rather than accepting it is a great monolithic doorstopper and say, listened to something else after every day or second day.
A LibriVox Listener
Very well done. Length though is close to 32 hours.