Image of Henryk Sienkiewicz

Timeline

Lifetime: 1846 - 1916 Passed: ≈ 107 years ago

Title

Journalist, Novelist

Country/Nationality

Poland
Wikipedia

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz, also known by the pseudonym Litwos [ˈlitfɔs], was a Polish journalist, novelist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especially for his internationally known best-seller Quo Vadis (1896).

Born into an impoverished Polish noble family in Russian-ruled Congress Poland, in the late 1860s he began publishing journalistic and literary pieces. In the late 1870s he traveled to the United States, sending back travel essays that won him popularity with Polish readers. In the 1880s he began serializing novels that further increased his popularity. He soon became one of the most popular Polish writers of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and numerous translations gained him international renown, culminating in his receipt of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer."

Many of his novels remain in print. In Poland he is best known for his "Trilogy" of historical novels – With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, and Sir Michael – set in the 17th-century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; internationally he is best known for Quo Vadis, set in Nero's Rome. The Trilogy and Quo Vadis have been filmed, the latter several times, with Hollywood's 1951 version receiving the most international recognition.

Books by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quo Vadis Cover image

Quo Vadis

Fiction Novel
Rome Art Cruelty Christianity

Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz in Polish. The novel Quo Vadis tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Lygia (Ligia in Polish) and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patric...

The Deluge Volume 2 Cover image

The Deluge Volume 2

Fiction Novel
Family Murder War Fight Death Historical Fiction Confessions

The Deluge is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1886. It is the second volume of a three-volume series known to Poles as "The Trilogy," having been preceded by With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1884) and fo...

With Fire and Sword Cover image

With Fire and Sword

In 1647, Poland is a land facing complete destruction with fire and sword. It may come from without, as the Tartar hordes swarm over the steppes, turning cities to ash and the Poles to slaves. It may come from within the country’s bounds, as the trai...

Deluge Volume 1 Cover image

Deluge Volume 1

The Deluge (Polish: Potop) is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1886. It is the second volume of a three-volume series known to Poles as "the Trilogy," having been preceded by With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i miecz...

Life and Death, and Other Stories and Legends Cover image

Life and Death, and Other Stories and Legends

Henryk Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905, but as he wrote in Polish many English-speakers are unfamiliar with his work. This short story collection is a sampler of five myths and legends which he collected. The "Life and Death" o...

In Desert and Wilderness Cover image

In Desert and Wilderness

In Desert and Wilderness is a novel for children by Polish author and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz. It tells the story of two children, Staś Tarkowski and Nel Rawlison, and their adventures as they cross the African desert and jung...

Listy z podróży po Ameryce Cover image

Listy z podróży po Ameryce

W listach wysyłanych do "Gazety Polskiej" Henryk Sienkiewicz opisał swoje wrażenia z wielomiesięcznych podróży od wschodniego po zachodni brzeg Stanów Zjednoczonych. Znajdziemy tu wrażenia z podróży transatlantykiem i koleją, opisy ludzi zamieszkując...

Za chlebem Cover image

Za chlebem

Historia dwojga ludzi, ojca i córki, i ich podróży przez Atlantyk w poszukiwaniu lepszego życia w Stanach Zjednoczonych - Summary by Piotr Nater

Potop, Tom 1 Cover image

Potop, Tom 1

W tej klasycznej powieści Henryk Sienkiewicz opowiada historię Andrzeja Kmicica; młodego, porywczego szlachcica który musi zdecydować jak ma dalej przebiegać jego życie w ogarniętej wojną z kilkoma przeciwnikami Rzeczpospolitej. Musi podjąć decyzję p...

Pan Michael: An Historical Novel of Poland, the Ukraine, and Turkey Cover image

Pan Michael: An Historical Novel of Poland, the Ukraine, and Turkey

This is the third part of the Sienkiewicz trilogy. It is loosely based on the politics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It is better known in English as 'Fire In The Steppe'. - Summary by David Granville Young

Lillian Morris, and Other Stories Cover image

Lillian Morris, and Other Stories

The nights were real Californian: calm, warm, starry; the fire burned cheerily, and in its gleam I saw the gigantic, but shapely and noble form of the old pioneer warrior. Raising his eyes to the stars, he sought to recall past events, cherished name...