“The Introduction to the First Day” of The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio |
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Janet Conner & Nancy Monson Newbury Park High School Newbury Park, CA |
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Introduction |
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In creating this project, we sought to produce a model for teachers that might be useful in a variety of situations / school settings. As a team consisting of one English and one science teacher, our hope is that our idea might be adaptable to a teacher or teachers working with students in: integrated classes which might include the benefit of team-teaching; classes that are blocked together so that one group of teachers might share the same students (e.g. students involved in a program such as International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, or a “school-within-a-school” or academy program); stand-alone classes in which the teacher wishes to provide the students with enrichment and connections to other subject areas (e.g. science to English, history and the humanities).
Our idea for this project first emerged as we were discussing some of the similarities between the two subjects of English/literature and the sciences. We were struck by the observation that both fields rely heavily, if not completely, on finding and/or providing evidence. In reading a text, whether it is literary or scientific, readers must read closely for detail and for examples if they wish to gain a clear understanding of the text. Taking this further, if readers wish to present an argument or point of view based on their reading of the text, it is imperative that they provide appropriate proof (data, testimony, citation, quotation, etc.) to support their assertions.
In selecting a text that might be appropriate, we were fortunate in finding an excellent source quite early in the NEH institute: Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Day 1, Prologue (“Introduction to the First Day”). As we read this piece, we were at once aware of the potential of using it in both subject areas. It is, in one way, an eyewitness account of the Black Death, as it tore through Florence, Italy in the mid-fourteenth century. It is, in another way, an early example of “the frame,” a literary device that became widespread throughout Europe during the Renaissance. It is also a text written by, as Margaret King describes, an “inaugurator of Renaissance thought.” As such, it can be used by English / Literature teachers and students as an important model for other writers, and it may be read critically for evidence of the purpose, tone, and attitude of a literary text.
Margaret King describes Boccaccio’s Decameron as “both enormously amusing and highly instructive.” In addition, she asserts, “The work was an important source for Boccaccio’s younger contemporary Geoffrey Chaucer and later authors, and celebrates the creation of literature as an autonomous activity (breaking with the medieval pattern of literature being didactic)” (King, 2003). For these reasons and for the reasons described above, we selected this piece as our primary source.
Finally, we see opportunities for extensions and further studies with The Black Death. Using additional texts, students can use The Black Death as a case study for disease. It would be instructive to compare other eyewitness accounts of this and other, more modern plagues (cholera, ebola, AIDS, SARS, etc.) in an effort to understand the various ways in which pathogens cause disease, and the widespread effects of disease on human civilization (social, economic, political, religious). Students may also investigate how advances in medical science over time have resulted in changes in how we treat disease (medical treatments, handling of victims, etc.). In the area of English / Literature, we see many possibilities of exploring how the Black Death (and other plagues) were instrumental in the production of literature and other artistic and humanistic endeavors (art, drama, etc.). Science: (Biology) • Viruses
• Bacteria • Immune System
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Read Boccaccio’s Decameron, Day 1, Prologue
Questions to consider while reading:
1) What were the earliest signs of infection?
2) Describe the later symptoms in affected individuals as the disease progressed.
3) Approximately how long did it take for an individual to die, from the first sign of disease until death?
4) Considering that this was well before the Scientific Revolution and the discovery of cells and pathogens, is there any evidence that people believed that this disease was communicable? Explain. 5) Some modern day scientists have suggested that the Black Death was not caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but was instead the result of a virus, perhaps related to the Ebola virus. Based on the eyewitness accounts such as The Decameron and other samples, and using what you know about viruses and bacteria, can you find any evidence to support these recent hypotheses?
**Read critically for evidence of:
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Introduce Case Study: The Black Death Using Boccaccio’s Decameron and other eyewitness accounts of the Black Death from the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe (see “Contemporary Perspectives” section), prepare a scientific journal report in which you identify the causative agent of the Black Death. You must:
è provide EVIDENCE from literature (description of victims’ symptoms, time from infection/first symptoms to death, etc.) è speculate as to the mode of transmission è include a plan for containment of the epidemic; medical practices (burial, treatment and/or isolation of the sick, etc.)
1) As a follow up, students may study a modern-day epidemic and compare to the Black Death. For example, students may choose from: AIDS Ebola SARS Small pox Hanta Tuberculosis
2) Teachers may wish to supplement the study of disease with supplementary texts, including some fictional works (e.g. “Doomsday Book,” “The Plague”) – see “Additional Resources” section. Students may read these purely for entertainment or as part of a formal assignment. |
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Additional Resources: Books: 1. Richard Preston; The Hot Zone; 1994. 2. William H. McNeill; Plagues and Peoples; 1993. 3. Sheldon Watts; Disease and Medicine in world History; 2003. 4. Sheldon Watts; Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism; 1997. 5. Paul Farmer; Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues; 1999. 6. Roy Porter; The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History; 1997. 7. Dr. Susan Scott and Professor Christopher Duncan; Return of the Black Death: The World’s Greatest Serial Killer; 2004. 8. David Herlihy; The Black Death and the Transformation of the West, 1997. 9. Philip Ziegler; The Black Death, 1979. 10. Connie Willis; Doomsday Book; 1992. (FICTION) 11. Albert Camus (trans. by Stuart Gilbert); The Plague; 1991. (FICTION)
Videos: 1. And the Band Played On; HBO Films, 1996. 2. Ebola: The Plague Fighters; NOVA, 1993.
Articles / Websites:
1. Decameron Web (http://www.brown.edu/Research/Decameron/) Includes links for:
2. "The Black Death, 1348," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001). 3. “Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe,” 4. “The Black Death,” http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/History/barton/ds11.htm 5. “The History of the Black Death,” by Christopher Duncan and Susan Scott, FirstScience.com, www.firstscience.com/SITE/ARTICLES/history-of-the-black-death/asp 6. “Could the Black Death Re-emerge?”, www.liv.ac.uk/precinct/Oct2001/12.html (2001). 7. “Black Death,” Answers.com, www.answers.com/topic/black-death.
Literature: 1) Background: Students will a. read frame narratives – e.g., Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales b. practice style analysis with both short passages and longer works – this includes writing that discusses tone and attitude, diction, syntax, imagery, details, point of view and organization, and the purpose revealed by such particulars c. read as a novel study, The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa, and examine the role of the storyteller in society, those that write fiction and those that write non-fiction d. consider and discuss the similarities between the scientific inquiry method and literary exposition e. consider and discuss the similarities between the storyteller and the scientist 2) Main text – Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron. Students will read the text, keeping a journal that investigates: a. Type (genre) of literature b. Characteristics c. Role of story-telling in its particular context d. Formal analysis of at least three particulars, choosing from tone, diction, syntax, imagery, point of view and organization and answering how each particular reflects the purpose of the writing in general 3) Other pieces of literature to accompany study: a. Those that stress the importance of literature in the development of a culture, and in the development of the humanities. --Why Literature? --Llosa --Michael Cunningham’s introduction to translation of Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann, 2004 --Linda Pastan’s poem, “Prosody 101” **From these readings, student will answer, in 200 words, “What do these writers give as reasons for the importance of literature in human society?” b. Eyewitness accounts of plagues --The plague in Athens in 430 B.C. --The town of Pistoia ordinances (1348) -- Plague in England, 1665-66, especially in Eyam in Derbyshire **From these readings, students will note the particulars about this kind of writing about the plague. Answer, “How does it compare to Boccaccio’s The Decameron?” |
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1. Read Year of Wonders: A Novel of Plague by Geraldine Brooks. The book is inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in England affected by the plague. Eyam, a village in Derbyshire, was also badly affected by the Great Plague of 1665 even though the disease is most associated with its impact on London. The sacrifices made by the villages of Eyam may well have saved cities in northern England from the worst of the plague. At the time of the plague, the village had a population of about 350. The most important person in the village was the church leader - William Mompesson. In the summer of 1665, the village tailor received a parcel of material from his supplier in London. This parcel contained the fleas that caused the plague. The tailor was dead from the plague within one week of receiving his parcel. By the end of September, five more villagers had died. Twenty-three died in October. Some of the villagers suggested that they should flee the village for the nearby city of Sheffield. Mompesson persuaded them not to do this, as he feared that they would spread the plague into the north of England that had more or less escaped the worst of it. In fact, the village decided to cut itself off from the outside would. They effectively agreed to quarantine themselves even though it would mean death for many of them. People who lived outside of the village supplied the village with food. People brought supplies and left them at the parish stones that marked the start of Eyam. The villagers left money in a water trough filled with vinegar to sterilize the coins left in them. In this way, Eyam was not left to starve to death. Those who supplied the food did not come into contact with the villagers. Eyam continued to be hit by the plague in 1666. The rector, Mompesson, had to bury his own family in the churchyard of Eyam. His wife died in August 1666. He decided to hold his services outside to reduce the chances of people catching the disease. (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/eyam_and_the_great_plague_of_166.htm)
2. As students read the novel, they must write up a 200-word comparison / contrast of the writing in this book to the production of writing by those who were eyewitnesses to plague, and write approximately 200 words answering: What does Boccaccio’s The Decameron help you conclude about the nature, the importance, and the role of storytelling in a human society?
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1. Book: Eyewitness to
History, edited by John Carey, which contains Thucydides' account of
plague in Athens in 430 B.C. 1997. 2. Website:
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Pericle.html.
Another source of Thucydides’ account of the plague in Athens in 430
B.C. 1997. 3. Website: Plague in the
Ancient World: A Study from Thucydides to Justinian by Christine A.
Smith,
http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1996-7/Smith.html 4. Website: Pistoia,
"Ordinances for sanitation in a time of mortality." A site that gives a
lot of information on the Black Death, including a number of primary
sources,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/pistoia.html 5. Handouts: -Why
Literature? An essay by Mario Vargas Llosa -Michael Cunningham’s
introduction to a new translation of Thomas Mann’s Death
in Venice by Michael Henry Heim, 2004 - Linda Pastan’s poem,
“Prosody 101” (The essay by Llosa is readily available online:
http://www.uwec.edu/pnotesbd/Llosa_article.htm (The introduction of Michael Henry Heim’s article
by Michael Cunningham is available through the Los Angeles Times
archives, or by asking me –Janet Conner – to mail a copy!) (Linda Pastan’s poem, “Prosody 101” is as follows:
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We would like to emphasize our thoughts when we applied to attend the NEH institute on “The Worlds of the Renaissance.” It is fair to say that the bridge connecting science to literacy is a reciprocal span. For example, the problem solving process in science – defining a problem, gathering information, generating a hypothesis, conducting experiments and drawing conclusions – can be easily connected with the process of writing expository prose. A writer too must define his/her purpose or problem. He/she must gather the necessary information to sustain a clear focus or hypothesis; one that will serve to sustain his/her rhetorical experiments and allow him/her to progress towards a meaningful conclusion. Further, the teaching of reading is not the sole province of language arts teachers. It is the domain of any teacher. Who better than the science teacher to encourage students to interact with text? Good readers and good scientists ask questions designed to clarify, predict, and summarize. Building the bridge between science and literacy will ensure a greater, more meaningful understanding of science, language arts, and the humanities.
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