50. Il filostrato by Giovanni Boccaccio
Italian text edited by Vincenzo Pernicone (1937), translation and introduction by Robert P. ApRoberts & Anna Bruni Seldis (1986)
written: usually dated between 1335 and 1340
format: hardcover with 74-page introduction and 416-pages with Italian poetry and English translation in prose on facing pages
acquired: Library
read: Oct 9-23
time reading: 8:59, 1.9 mpp
rating: 3
locations: Naples and Troy
about the author: Florentine author 1313-1375 (live in Naples from 1327-1340, where this was written)

The story of Troilus and Criseyde is of medieval origin, from when The Iliad was mostly lost to Europe. Troilus is mentioned once in Iliad, where he is killed by Achilles. Criseyde (or Criseida, or Cressida, like that old Toyota) is a warped derivation of Briseis, the captive Agamemnon steals from Achilles in the opening of the epic. But the story of these lovers, who are separated by war and then follow with different responses, has its own tradition. Boccaccio would have pulled from a Latin translation of Le Roman de Troie (The Romance of Troy) by Benoît de Sainte-Maure. His version then probably became the main source of Chaucer's version, [Troilus and Criseyde], considered one of his best works. Shakespeare also has a famous wry comedic version.

The basic framework is that Troilus, a son of Trojan King Priam, falls in love with Criseida, the daughter of a seer, Calchas. Their affair is set up through her cousin, Panderus. Calchas has foreseen the Trojan loss and deserted to the Greek besiegers. Criseida, left behind, is traded for a Trojan worrier, Antenor (later a traitor, but not in these stories). The lovers are divided. Troilus is crushed and mourns. Criseida not only recovers, but falls for the Greek hero Diomede. The jealous Troilus goes on a suicidal rampage, finally killed by Achilles. Intimacy, infidelity and jealousy are always underlying themes.

Boccaccio supposedly wrote this while young, and living in Naples, somewhere around 1335 to 1340. Our narrator, whether Boccaccio or fictional, has fallen painfully in love, in Naples, to a lover who has moved away, and out of reach. "That deprivation has saddened my soul so far beyond any proper limit..." He is writing her this letter, and includes this tragic story of Troilo and Criseida so that she can see "when someone's happiness is seen, the quantity and quality of the misery which comes after may be much better understood."

The story itself is told in poetic stanzas, here translated in prose English, which makes the reading quick. But I still found it a little slow as, despite the plot drive, it dwells so much on exaggerated emotional pathos and tears. But it's interesting in several ways. The focus on the pathos ties more in to Petrarch and traditional love poetry than, for example, into Shakespeare. Also, unlike in Shakespeare, the lovers are each really warmly in love, not just Troilus. The sexual encounters are more explicit that I would have expected, somehow both a little racy and romantic.

Long would it be to recount the joy and impossible to tell the delight which they took together when they came into it; they undressed and got in to bed, where the lady, remaining still in her last garment, with pleasing speech said to him, "Shall I strip myself? The newly married are bashful the first night."

To whom Troilo said, "My soul, I pray that I may have you naked in my arms as my heart desires." And then she: "See how I free myself of it." And her shift thrown away, she gathered herself quickly into his arms; and straining each other with fervor, they felt the ultimate value of love.

O sweet night, and much desired, what were you to the two happy lovers! If the knowledge were given to me that all the poets have had, it could not be described by me. Let him think of it who was ever as much advanced by the grace of love as these were, and he will know in part their delight.

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This was a random and kind of cool library find. I'm looking into making Boccaccio one of my 2022 themes, and I found that the only widely available work by him is [The Decameron]. Anything else is a little tricky to find and maybe for me not worth the time and effort. But I peaked at our library catalogue and found this edition (not available on amazon) and decided to pick it up. It's charming in its typewriter font, and obscure feel. But it's not an ideal version in any sense. The poetry is lost. And it comes with a long cranky introduction which expresses bitter offense at suggestion Boccaccio might have intended some irony. Cleary apRoberts has some kind of ax to grind.

2021
https://www.librarything.com/topic/333774#7635901 ( )