'thus She Was Decapitated, And This Was The End To Which She Was Brought By Her Unbridled Lusts.' For Over Two Centuries After Boccaccio's Groundbreaking Decameron, The Italian Novella Exercised A Crucial Influence Over European Prose Fiction. With Thirty-nine Stories By Nineteen Authors, Many Translated For The First Time, This Anthology Presents Tales From The Whole Genre And Period. Here We Meet A Rich Cast Of Humble Peasants And Shrewd Craftsmen, Frustrated Wives, Libidinous Friars, Ill-fated Lovers, And Vengeful Nobles. These Works Had A Considerable Impact In English, And The Selection Includes Tales That Have Provided Sources For Chaucer, Shakespeare, Webster, Marston, Dryden, Byron And Keats. The Typical Novella Is Situated In A Precise Time And Place And Features People Who Either Existed Historically Or Are Presumed To Have Done So. The Subject-matter, Whether Ribald Or Sentimental, Comic Or Tragic, Often Reflects The Social And Economic Conditions Of Its Age And Thus The Novella Has Been Seen As A Crucial Stage In The Development Of Fictional Realism And The Emergence Of The Novel