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Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Oszyk-Sienkiewicz (IPA: [ˈxɛnrɨk ɕenˈkieviʧ] listen) (May 5, 1846 - November 15, 1916 in Vevey Switzerland) 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.

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."¹

Generations 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.

Contents 1 Works 2 Note 3 References 4 External links

Works

His most important novels were:

• The Trilogy (Trylogia), comprising:
  • With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1884), which took place during the 17th century Cossack revolt known as the Chmielnicki Uprising; made into a movie with the same title;
  • The Deluge (Potop, 1886), describing the Swedish invasion of Poland known as The Deluge; made into a movie with the same title;
  • Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wołodyjowski, 1888), which took place during wars with the Ottoman Empire in the late 17th century; made into a film titled Colonel Wolodyjowski.

• The Teutonic Knights, also translated as The Knights of the Cross, ISBN 0-7818-0433-7 (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).

Note

• 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 Wrocław, are all named after Henryk Sienkiewicz. All of the places in the Ukraine that were formerly named after Sienkiewicz, during the 1920s, were renamed in 1946.^[1]

References

1. ^ 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

External links

• Works by 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)