Acknowledgments; Chronology; Part I. The Making of the Decameron: 1. The Decameron as a landmark of world literature; 2. Boccaccio, Naples and Florence before the Decameron; Part II. The Decameron: 3. Title and preface; 4. First Day (Introduction); (i) the plague; (ii) the mise-en-scene; 5. First Day: the saint's life and the powers of language; 6. Second Day: fortune, female character and the impulse to trade; 7. Third Day: sex, voice and morals; 8. Fourth Day (introduction): Boccaccio's apology for Florentine prose; 9. Fourth Day: love and feudal aristocracy; 10. Fifth Day: romance, class difference, social negotiation; 11. Sixth Day: Florentine society and associational form; 12. Seventh Day: controlling domestic space; 13. Eighth Day: the scholar and the widow; 14. Ninth Day: the mystery of Calandrino; 15. Tenth Day: magnificance and myths of power; 16. The return to Florence and the author's conclusion; Part III. After the Decameron: Guide to further reading.