Chaucer, Boccaccio, and the Debate of Love: A Comparative Study of the 'Decameron' and the 'Canterbury Tales'

N. S. Thompson, Chaucer, Boccaccio, and the Debate of Love: A Comparative Study of the 'Decameron' and the `Canterbury Tales' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, I996). x + 354 pp. ISBN 0-19-812378-7. L40.00.

`Did Chaucer know the Decameron?' With that century-old question Nigel S. Thompson opens the introduction to a book-length attempt to show, sort of, that Chaucer probably, most likely, maybe did know the Decameron - that is, if readers are convinced by evidence, none of it 'positive'. I do not mean to be flippant in my summary of a long and involved book, but the uncertainty of Thompson's conclusion about a subject that has consumed him for some years is no doubt as frustrating for him as it will be for his readers. Most readers will appreciate Thompson's careful `let's-consider-the-evidence' cautiousness about what is probably the most important unresolved question about the influences on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but some...