The Folger is closing at 4:30pm on Sunday, February 23, for a staff training exercise. Normal hours will resume when the Folger opens on Tuesday, February 25, at 11:00am.
Boccacio’s book centers on a group of men and women who flee a plague-ridden Florence and pass their time telling humorous and bawdy stories—not unlike passing the time during Covid, perhaps? Written in Italian prose, the Decameron is about people, and conveys the earthiness and subtlety that characterizes human experience. The range of perspectives signals the historical change from a unified, God-centered worldview to a diverse, human-centered one.
