14th Century Italian Literature: The Inferno vs The Decameron

My final seminar, the course I need to finish my degree, is on Italian Literature, and English language authors in Italy. It's an interesting syllabus full of titles and authors I'm not previously familiar with (which is always a little bit exciting). We read 20 of the 100 tales of The Decameron and now we are reading all of The Inferno, part one of Dante's Divine Comedy. I'm about to go full literature nerd. You've been warned.

In many ways, Boccaccio wrote The Decameron as a secular counter point to Dante. Where Dante wrote a divine comedy, Boccaccio was writing an earthy, human comedy. He uses a similar religious conceit in the structure of the story. Dante's Divine Comedy has 100 cantos (1 prologue canto, 33 within the Inferno, 33 in Purgatorio, and 33 in Paridiso). The Decameron consists of 100 tales told over ten days by ten tellers.
The Decameron as a whole has a subversive feel to it. It shows authority figures to be corrupt and those with the quickest wit, not the best morals, prosper. Boccaccio also subtitled his work, "of Prince Galehaut." This is a reference to the Arthurian legend of Lancelot and Guinevere's illicit love. Galehaut arranged the tryst between the two lovers. In this way, Boccaccio is signalling his audience that his tales will be of this bawdy nature.
Lancelot and Guinevere are referenced in The Inferno. In circle II, The Circle of the Lustful, Dante encounters a couple called Francesca and Paolo. Francesca tells him how she was deceived into marrying Paolo's brother. She and Paolo would meet to read together. They read the story of Lancelot and Guinevere which moved them to, in a moment of passion, share a kiss. Francesca's husband catches them and kills them both.
Basically, by subtitling his work with a reference to the that tale, Boccaccio is saying that he is writing immoral stories. He's writing the kind of stories that can land you in Dante's hell.

This seems as good a segue as any to let you know that I'm spending the first week of March in Italy with others from the class. We have plenty of literary stops planned.
I've just started a new travel blog, so most of my photos and whatnot will be recorded there. I'd love it if you guys would check it out!

James Franco: English Nerd

Some nerds are hot. Very hot- made hotter by the fact that they are nerds. Last night James Franco was on The Daily Show, discussing his Oscar nomination for the Danny Boyle film, 127 Hours. When he heard that he had the nomination he chose to go to his class at Yale instead of heading to a morning talk show. Apparently it was a class on the Romantic poets, so he couldn't miss that (I totally agree). He's pursuing a PhD in English, it helps 'get the ladies.'
His love and knowledge of English no doubt helped with his role as Allen Ginsberg in the recent film Howl about the obscenities trial surrounding the poem of the same name. A film I've yet to see, but have heard good things about.
So, next time someone complains about the lack of guys that are smart and sexy, point out James Franco as hope for woman-kind.

Star Wars Day?

As a reluctant sci-fi geek, I feel compelled to mention that today is what is often acknowledged as "Star Wars Day" or "Luke Skywalker Day." I must mention it if for nothing other than the fact that my older brother and I would spend days in the summer watching all three movies in a row and eating Spaghettios out of the can when I was about seven. Ah, childhood.
Today is the May the 4th which makes a clever little pun "May the fourth be with you."
Though according to Wikipedia, attempts to create a Jedi church have failed and no group other than hardcore Star Wars fans celebrates the holiday, it is still a pop culture mini-phenomenon.
In Los Angeles the city council declared May 25th Star Wars Day (the 25th was the release date of A New Hope back in '77). However, the 25th is also known as "Geek Pride Day" and "Towel Day".
Though I can't speculate what special activities one would do on Geek Pride Day, fans of Douglas Adams carry towels around on Towel Day.

Entertainment of the Weekend

Oh Robin Hood, how you consume a pathetic and socially unacceptable percentage of my thoughts. This week's episode was a major moment with Robin and Guy; it gave fantastic insights on the boys that became the men and how the "bad blood" between them goes back to their fathers. Who cares if it doesn't completely mesh with the backstory that has been implied for the past two seasons? Well... some people care, but besides throwing off the timeline and amount of history between characters a bit, it actually makes alot of things make even more sense in my opinion. I still, stubbornly insist that they should not have killed off Marian and that S3 could have been much more interesting with her. Maybe once the American premiere of S3 concludes in a few weeks I'll post my rewrite of the S2 finale and new outline of S3. Although I must give credit where it is due, the writers did very much redeem themselves in the end of this season. But not 100%
Tonight is the premiere of Collision which has Lucy Griffiths- Lady Marian herself appearing in it. Many BBCA viewers will find familiar actors in this series. I'm excited, Place of Execution has me feeling positive about Mas Contemporary. I'll post my notes later this week.
For books: I have been reading Girl, Interrupted. It's amazing, I'm obsessed. I've never seen the movie, but need to read the book for a class I'm taking. Though I'm not sure what this says about me, I find it fascinating to read about experiences with mental illness. I read The Bell Jar in high school- changed my life. The book is not a cohesive A-B-C plotline, but a collection of memories of the author's experience in the mental hospital. It's as if she wrote each chapter, each episode in the book as it came to mind, not in any order but the one her mind drew up. I can't wait to watch the movie and see how they arrange the plot.
One other bit of exciting, geeky news: BBCA has announced they are showing the final three Dr. Who specials starring David Tennant in December! Can't wait.

Awkward First Blog

I keep seeing more and more authors nowadays that have gotten their start online through blogging. It struck me that perhaps there really is something useful and educational about it, that I should move with the times.
I don't want to talk about my personal life or the exploits of celebrities, mainly I want to create an intelligent forum for literary based discussions in relation to life, pop culture, and more literature. At the forefront I should state I am not just an English geek, I have many geeky interest or at least interests that I have been told are geeky.
Mostly I have been inspired by the fantastic girls on the BBCA Robin Hood forum that provide stimulating discussion every week and have given me confidence in my own ability to give commentary.
Now that this awkward first blog is out of the way, hopefully enthralling discussions are to come.