The stories have been chosen to represent themost notable of the author s themes and the most characteristic andinfluential examples of his narrative technique. All are in newtranslations by Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella which successfullycapture Boccaccio s variations in diction and sentence structure. "Contemporary Reactions" includes Petrarch s letters to Boccaccio aftercompletion of The Decameron and the responses of such ItalianRenaissance figures...