French pornography of the 15th Century

[edeb]

when were the cent nouvelles nouvelles written, and when were they first published?

[barrywom]

They were a collection of French tales, loosely modelled on the 14th-century Decameron by Boccaccio, and written down in manuscript form in the 1460s. They have been published in print form at various times since, and a French edition is currently on sale, though no English translation is presently available. Predominantly bawdy, the tales were related at the court of Philip, duke of Burgundy, by the duke and members of his household.

[edeb]

In fact there are several English translations available. The most recent is by Judith B Diner, who published with Garland press. Before her there was a translation by R. H. Robbins, and before that there was a very bad one done about 100 years ago. There is even an online version in German. Although they were modelled on the Decameron, the version was the Laurent de Premierfait translation, the livre des cent nouvelles (see dedication of book) and the more important textual influences were Poggio Bracciolini's facetiae and the Fabliaux. There are variants on other English and Italian texts as well as a few others in the CNN, but many tales are true. Thanks for your answer BARRYWOM.! EDEB

[barrywom]

You're welcome, edeb, though given the fact that you already seem to know so much about it, I'm not sure why you bothered to ask the question in the first place. And I see you've also posed another one relating to the tales. Meanwhile, you're absolutely right about the Diner translation, entitled the One Hundred New Tales in English, but Robbins appears to be out of print.

[sgs]

There's an article on The Decameron at article 1734