The incomplete Heptameron, modeled on Boccaccio's Decameron,…
1558 CE
The incomplete Heptameron, modeled on Boccaccio's Decameron, is the best-known work of Marguerite de Navarre, the late queen consort of King Henry II of Navarre.
Originally intended to contain one hundred stories covering ten days just as the Decameron does, it had only been completed as far as the second story of the eighth day at Marguerite’s death in late 1549.
A collection of short stories related by fictional characters who probably represent Marguerite and her circle at the French court, the stories, and especially the conversations between the characters, emphasize the frequent unhappiness of women and the joys of chaste love leading to the love of God.
Many of the stories deal with love, lust, infidelity and other matters romantic and sexual.
The collection first appears in print in 1558 under the title Histoires des amans fortunez edited by Pierre Boaistuau, who has taken considerable liberties with the original version, using only sixty-seven of the stories, many in abbreviated form, and omitting much of the significant material between the stories.
He has also transposed stories and ignored their grouping into days as envisaged by the authoress.