’Thusshewasdecapitated,andthiswastheendtowhichshewasbroughtbyherunbridledlusts.’ForovertwocenturiesafterBoccaccio’sgroundbreakingDecameron,theItaliannovellaexercisedacrucialinfluenceoverEuropeanprosefiction.Withthirty-ninestoriesbynineteenauthors,manytranslatedforthefirsttime,thisanthologypresentstalesfromthewholegenreandperiod.Herewemeetarichcastofhumblepeasantsandshrewdcraftsmen,frustratedwives,libidinousfriars,ill-fatedlovers,andvengefulnobles.TheseworkshadaconsiderableimpactinEnglish,andtheselectionincludestalesthathaveprovidedsourcesforChaucer,Shakespeare,Webster,Marston,Dryden,ByronandKeats.Thetypicalnovellaissituatedinaprecisetimeandplaceandfeaturespeoplewhoeitherexistedhistoricallyorarepresumedtohavedoneso.Thesubject-matter,whetherribaldorsentimental,comicortragic,oftenreflectsthesocialandeconomicconditionsofitsageandthusthenovellahasbeenseenasacrucialstageinthedevelopmentoffictionalrealismandtheemergenceofthenovel
