Las cient novelas de Juan Bocacio: a critical edition of the medieval Castilan translation of Boccaccio's Decameron

Thesis

This thesis is a critical edition of the fifteenth-century Castilian translation of Boccaccio’s Decameron, based on Alberto Blecua’s neo-Lachmannian methodology: the first part presents the results of the recensio process, and the second is the critically edited text with the critical apparatus and linguistic variants. Due to the length of the text and the attention to detail required when preparing a critical edition, this thesis covers the first half of the text in the printed tradition (tabla, prologue, introduction and novelle I-LI).

The introduction provides the necessary contextual information, covering the Italian textual tradition of the Decameron, Boccaccio and the Decameron in Spain and other contemporary translations of the Decameron across Europe. Chapter 1 focuses on the Castilian translation, namely the questions addressed in previous scholarship and the obstacles encountered. Here I provide my first hypotheses as to the nature of the relationship between the two earliest witnesses, alongside a preliminary collatio externa. Chapter 2 provides the fontes criticae, in which I describe the material condition and ownership history of all seventeen exemplars, which sheds light on how and why this text was preserved. Chapter 3 presents the results of the collatio process: the examinatio and selectio phase of neo-Lachmannian textual criticism. Through the construction of a stemma codicum, I determine the archetype that should be reconstructed and the relationship between the printed editions of the text. Chapter 4 considers the linguistic variation in the printed tradition, which serves as a case study for this key period in the history of Spanish, and also provides evidence that negates common assumptions made about editorial practices. The conclusion lays the groundwork for further study in this field, including the literary value of the Castilian translation, as well as the implications for the reception of the Decameron in early modern Spain.

Authors: Di Dodo, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-kz5b8kaqo
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English, Spanish
• Keywords: Castilian; Decameron; medieval; translation; critical edition
• Subjects: Criticism, Textual; Codicology--Bibliography; Literature, Medieval--Translations