L’antichità «crudele». Etruschi e Italici nella letteratura italiana del Novecento

in reading. By experimenting with various consolatory strategies and oscillating between them, Boccaccio shows that there is no one universal solution to hardship and that consolation should be attuned to the sufferer’s particular circumstances. He thereby propels readers to take an active role in determining their own source of comfort, and embraces an individualistic attitude towards earthly goals that anticipates aspects of Renaissance humanism.