Abstract
Franco Sacchetti (1332–1400) may be considered Boccaccio’s most important follower in the ‘golden century’ of the Italian literary language, and his Novelle rank among the undisputed classics of early Italian literature. However, with no extant autograph witness, their text must be reconstructed from manuscripts copied almost two centuries after (second half of the sixteenth century). Thus, the authorial form of the collection title has been long disputed, but often with little attention paid to period documentation. This essay attempts to outline the main issues of the discussion, which has been recently reopened with new arguments, and to reassess it in the light of the work’s reception history as well as authorial intention.
Highlights
Franco Sacchetti (1332–1400) may be considered Boccaccio’s most important follower in the ‘golden century’ of the Italian literary language, and his Novelle rank among the undisputed classics of early Italian literature
The work was not copied or circulated for many years, until — shortly after the middle of the sixteenth century (Drusi 2012, 43–4) — it was found by the famous Florentine philologist Vincenzio Borghini (1515–1580)
Sacchetti turned down even some requests by fellow poets to read them, as may be seen from his autograph Rime (Ageno 1990, CCCVI a–b)
Summary
Franco Sacchetti (1332–1400) may be considered Boccaccio’s most important follower in the ‘golden century’ of the Italian literary language, and his Novelle rank among the undisputed classics of early Italian literature.
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