Henryk Sienkiewicz

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (pronounce: ) (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. 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; abroad—for his novel, Quo Vadis, set in the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.

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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 Krzy?acy, 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.

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Quo Vadis has been filmed several times, most notably the 1951 version.

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The author of Quo Vadis won the 1905 Nobel Prize in literature "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer."1

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May 5: May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). There are 240 days remaining....

1846: 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar)....

1916: 1916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar)...

Henryk Sienkiewicz related Images and Photos (experimental)

A Banquet in Nero's Palace Illustration from "Quo Vadis" by Henryk Sienkiewicz circa 1910