Event

David Wallace, University of Pennsylvania, will discuss two moments in time, just before and after World War II, when Boccaccio enjoyed much less respect than today as a European writer, and as an Italian immigrant.

The title speaks of 'No Respect,' but Boccaccio's star today really is in the ascendant. Many factors contribute to this, but one of the greatest is the spatial turn, the embrace of literary geography. Specifically, and with urgent contemporary relevance, we might celebrate Boccaccio as a preeminent poet of inter-cultural, cross-Mediterranean exchange: the muse of Lampedusa. This happy state of affairs was not always the case, however, and this presentation will speak of two moments in time, just before and after World War II, when Boccaccio enjoyed much less respect as a European writer, and as an Italian immigrant.