Mediologie decameroniane. Boccaccio e le origini dello spazio letterario moderno = Mediology of Decameron: Boccaccio and the origins of the modern literary space

Abstract

How to read a classic of literature such as the Decameron through a mediological approach? According to a first reflection on the general structure of the work, the author investigates the reasons making the text a decisive moment of rupture and innovation in the history of communication and culture. Main issues concern: Firstly, the medium's invention we are used to calling "literature", through the abandonment of the late medieval forms of written textuality. Significant changes in the medium's structure are related with the silent reading spread, and with the new social life complexity in cities. Secondly, the awareness of the reality-phenomenon ambiguity, and the consequent need to face it through a full sensorial experience: With Boccaccio emerged a revanche of the image, imagination, eros, in contrast with the pressure of the logical order of the normative and allegorical writing, and that opposition was regulated giving narrative expression to open conflicts. Thirdly, the introduction of a particular storytelling technology based on the ambiguity of discourse and situations, being interpreted on several levels. Finally, the spaces metaphorical values: Florence, the plague city, as an overturning for a new necessary beginning; and the garden in the "cornice", as a recognition of the subject sensitive nature in its relationship with the world.