Novelle Cinque: Tales from the Veneto

143 pp. Illustrated with facsimiles from the 16th century manuscript. Translated, edited, and annotated by George H. Bumgardner. Four of the stories, not all from known authors were translated and edited by George M. Baumgardner are all about, young love where the lovers cannot be together for various reasons: one woman is married to an awful man, one boy arranged marriage to someone he doesn't love, etc. Either the boy or the girl (for all of them are aged fourteen to seventeen) dies in various ways, usually at their own hand or from a broken heart. The final story, which is different from the others in that the story is about jealousy, not of a lover, but of closeness to a king. A knight lies to pull a close friend from the king's side, but through the strong, brilliance of the condemned knight's sister, who was the catalyst for the brave nights demise, tricks the accuser into reveal his own lies. The last story is wonderfully wrought, the other four are similar in tone and having Shakespeare play so strong in mind, they lacked a bit of originality--even thought they were all written before the time of Romeo and Juliet. - Good Reads. CONTENTS: Translator's Introduction; Anzollo and Valeria; Pruneo and Julia; Hieronymus and Lucretia; Estore and Camilla; Justa Victoria; Notes.