Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Oszyk-Sienkiewicz (pronounce:
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) (
May 5 1846 -
November 15 1916) was a
Polish novelist, one of the outstanding
writers of the second half of the
19th century.
Sienkiewicz was born to a well-to-do family in
Wola Okrzejska, a town in Russian-ruled Poland. A Polish patriot to the core, Sienkiewicz created
historical novels that extolled the valiant men and brave deeds of the former
Rzeczpospolita. His patriotism shows also in the negative way he portrays
The Teutonic Knights, during a time when many of his readers lived in the
German Empire.
Serializing his novels in
newspapers, he became immensely popular and beloved in his time and, over a century later, is still highly valued by readers of prose. In Poland he is best known for his colorful historical novels (
The Trilogy) depicting the derring-do of Polish heroes in the 17th century
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while abroad, for his novel,
Quo Vadis, set in the reign of the Roman emperor
Nero. His only relative now lives in Australia.
Sienkiewicz had a way with language. In the trilogy, for instance, he had his characters use Polish language as it was spoken in seventeenth century. In
Krzyżacy, which relates to the
Battle of Grunwald in
1410, he even had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated by utilizing many of the archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of
Podhale.
Quo Vadis has been filmed several times, most notably the
1951 version.
He won the 1905
Nobel Prize in literature "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer."
1Generations later, Alexander Victor Sienkiewicz (one of the few relatives of Henryk Sienkiewicz), has begun to heavily promote Henryk's work in the United States, a land where he is not widely known.
His most important novels were:
*
The Trilogy (
Trylogia), comprising:
**
With Fire and Sword (
Ogniem i mieczem, 1884, relating to the great seventeenth century
Cossack revolt known as the
Chmielnicki Uprising); made into
a movie with the same title;
**
The Deluge (
Potop, 1886, relating to the Swedish invasion of Poland known as
The Deluge); made into
a movie with the same title;
**
Pan Wołodyjowski (
Pan Wołodyjowski, 1888, relating to a tale of the wars with the Moslem Ottomans) aka
Fire in the Steppe; made into
a movie with the same title.
*
The Teutonic Knights, also translated as
The Knights of the Cross, ISBN 0781804337 (
Krzyżacy, 1900, relating to the
Battle of Grunwald); made into
a movie with the same title in 1960 by
Aleksander Ford.
*
Quo Vadis (1895).
*
In Desert and Wilderness (
W pustyni i w puszczy, 1912).
*
The Polaniecki Family (
Rodzina Połanieckich, 1894).
*
Without Dogma (
Bez dogmatu, 1891).
* Many commentators erroneously state that Sienkiewicz received the Nobel Prize for
Quo vadis. This is incorrect. He received it "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer." Sources:
NobelPrize.org and [
1]
"Za co Sienkiewicz dostał Nobla" (a Polish newspaper article).
* In
Poland, Sienkiewicza Street in central
Warsaw;
Sienkiewicza Street in
Kielce;
Osiedle Sienkiewicza, one of the districts of the City of
Białystok; and Sienkiewicza Municipal Park in
Wroclaw, are named after Henryk Sienkiewicz. All of the places in the
Ukraine that were formerly named after Sienkiewicz, during the 1920s, were renamed in 1946.
[Summary of Genocide Committed by Ukrainian Nationalists on the Polish Population of Volhynia During World War Ii (1939-1945) by Wladyslaw Siemaszko and Ewa Siemaszko]*
Free ebook of Henryk Sienkiewicz at
Project Gutenberg*
Biography at the Polish American Center*
Homepage of the Henryk Sienkiewicz Museum in Oblegorek*
The house of Henryk Sienkiewicz in Oblegorek*
Genealogia Dynastyczna Oszyk Coat of Arms (Łabędź odmieniony) 
