The Decameron VS The Canterbury Tales

Both classic Medieval literature, though I haven't read either yet. I'm sure lots of Prog fans have read both, let's see which one do prog fans prefer.

Edited by The Quiet One - August 22 2010 at 20:51

SaltyJon wrote: I like what I've read of the Canterbury Tales more than what I've read of the Decameron, though I haven't read everything from both.  No vote until I do (so I may never vote )

The Quiet One wrote: SaltyJon wrote: I like what I've read of the Canterbury Tales more than what I've read of the Decameron, though I haven't read everything from both.  No vote until I do (so I may never vote )   And maybe nobody will vote

Well if there are no votes by tomorrow when I get on here I'll vote for Canterbury Tales.

Very tough!

I wouldn't be able to give an "objective" vote, they're both major masterpieces, so I'll vote for the Decameron because it gets dirty very often

I've only read parts of each, but the Decameron offended me so Canterbury wins, and Chaucer's rhyming is too badass to lose. If you're wondering what could offend me, it was Day 3 Tale 10. I was the only person in my English class who didn't think it was funny for a monk to rape a 14 year old girl, which kind of upset me. This was also around the time Polanski was arrested in Switzerland, so you can imagine how angry I got when one of the girls in the class said "But she liked it!" so obviously it's ok. I'll admit that as a Catholic I'm also more sensitive to this subject, but in that moment I suddenly saw why all the feminists complain about "rape culture".

Henry Plainview wrote: I've only read parts of each, but the Decameron offended me so Canterbury wins, and Chaucer's rhyming is too badass to lose. If you're wondering what could offend me, it was Day 3 Tale 10. I was the only person in my English class who didn't think it was funny for a monk to rape a 14 year old girl, which kind of upset me. This was also around the time Polanski was arrested in Switzerland, so you can imagine how angry I got when one of the girls in the class said "But she liked it!" so obviously it's ok. I'll admit that as a Catholic I'm also more sensitive to this subject, but in that moment I suddenly saw why all the feminists complain about "rape culture".

Just a nuance: a 14 year old wasn't a "girl" any more at that time (Middle Ages & Renaissance). They were considered women and they often got married at 14 or even 13. Some of the most paradigmatic characters of erotic literature are of that age - like Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet"; Petrarch's Laura was a woman married at 15, and Dante's Beatrice was a girl he only saw twice in his life, first (and most important) when she was 8 and second when she was 17. He worshiped all his life a little girl... BTW Dante's was formally married when he was 12.

I don't remember about the rape, I never re-read the book after a very early read (I was probably 11 or 12). So I am just pointing out that it's a different situation than what we now think of as a statutory rape.

Your enjoyment of old texts depends on the moral values of the characters as compared to our contemporary values? Hmm, that must spoil some great ones for you.