Gli Hecatommithi
| Author | Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio |
|---|---|
| Language | Italian |
| Publisher | Lionardo Torrentino |
| Publication date | 1565 |
| Publication place | Duchy of Savoy |
Gli Hecatommithi (lit. 'The Hundred Stories'), also known as just Hecatommithi, is a 1565 short story collection by the Italian writer Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio.
Summary
[edit]The collection is modelled on The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio with ten groups of ten stories each, and an additional ten stories in the introduction and three at the end of the third and fourth decade, giving a total of 113 stories. It has a frame story set in 1527, where a group of people flee the Sack of Rome in a ship to Marseille and entertain themselves by telling stories during the journey.[1]
The stories vary in subjects and tone, including crime, comedic situations and romantic love. They were described at the time as stories that aim to reflect modern life and Christian humanism.[2]
Publication
[edit]The book was first printed in 1565 by Lionardo Torrentino in Mondovì.[3] It was a success it its time and had been published in seven editions by 1608.[4] Gabriel Chappuys produced a French translation published in two volumes in 1583–1584. Selected stories appeared in English translation in William Painter's Palace of Pleasure (1566–1575) and Barnabe Rich's Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581).[2]
Adaptations
[edit]Cinthio was also a playwright and adapted several of his own stories into plays.[2] William Shakespeare used stories from Gli Hecatommithi as the main sources for his plays Othello (III.7) and Measure for Measure (VIII.5), the latter via the 1578 play Promos and Cassandra by George Whetstone.[5] According to Hugh M. Richmond, the principal love intrigues of A Midsummer Night's Dream may be adapted from Gli Hecatommithi II.8.[6]
References
[edit]- ↑ Faas, Egbert (2020). "Giraldi Cinzio, Giovanni Battista: De gli Hecatommithi". In Arnold, H. L. (ed.). Kindlers Literatur Lexikon (in German). Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. doi:10.1007/978-3-476-05728-0_3804-1. ISBN 978-3-476-05728-0.
- 1 2 3 Gillespie, Stuart (2016). Shakespeare's Books: A Dictionary of Shakespeare Sources. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 9781474216067.
- ↑ Fragnito, Gigliola (2001). Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy. Cambridge University Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-521-66172-0.
- ↑ Cartwright, Kent (2011). "The Return from the Dead in The Merchant of Venice". Visions of Venice in Shakespeare. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315547992. ISBN 9781315547992.
- ↑ The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press. 2001. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-19-811735-3.
- ↑ Leslie, Robert W. (1995). "Shakespeare's Italian Dream: Cinquecento Sources for A Midsummer Night's Dream". Comparative Drama. 29 (4): 454–465. doi:10.1353/cdr.1995.0034.