2016 marks the 170th anniversary of the birth and exactly 100th anniversary of the death of the great Polish writer Henryk (Heinrich) Sienkiewicz. In the era of the oppression of the Polish language and culture, with the help of his novels, he interested not only compatriots, but also readers from all over the world with the historical past of Poland. In addition, he wrote one of the best novels about Christians in the Roman Empire, What Are You Coming?, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
A descendant of Tatars and Belarusians - Polish writer Henryk (Heinrich) Sienkiewicz
The world-famous Polish writer meanwhile did not have Polish roots at all. His father's ancestors were Tatars who moved to Poland and converted to Catholicism. On the maternal side, the blood of Belarusian nobles flowed in the veins of the writer. However, by the time Henryk was born, his family remembered their origin only occasionally, considering themselves100% Poles.
Writer's childhood
The future Nobel laureate was born in May 1846 in Podlasie. In addition to him, the family had five more children. Even then, the Senkevichs began to have financial problems. Trying to settle them, they often moved from estate to estate. Thus, young Henryk spent his childhood among the picturesque expanses of rural nature. Over time, when all the property was sold, the impoverished gentry had no choice but to move to Warsaw.
Youth and the beginning of a creative path
After the family of the gentry went bankrupt, the grown-up Henryk Adam Alexander Pius Sienkiewicz had to rely only on his own strength. Despite financial problems, young Heinrich Senkevich received a decent education. He graduated from the gymnasium and, at the insistence of his parents, entered the medical faculty of the University of Warsaw. However, the profession of a doctor was not interested in an ardent young man with a vivid imagination, so he transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology.
The first attempt to write his own work was made by Henry in his student years. It was called the "first-born" of the writer "The Victim", but this work was not published and has not been preserved.
Since relatives practically did not help the writer, Genrikh Senkevich began to look for ways to earn money. Soon, under the pseudonym Litvos, essays, articles and essays by the young Sienkiewicz began to appear in many newspapers in Warsaw. His talent and pleasant manner of writing were quickly appreciated. Never completed his studies at the university, Henryk Sienkiewiczdevoted himself entirely to journalism.
The first published work of the writer was the story "The Beginning" (1872). After a successful debut, he began to actively write his own works and publish.
In 1876, Heinrich was sent on a business trip to the United States. Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote many essays and stories based on his impressions of the trip. The most popular are "In the Land of Gold", "Comedy of Errors" and "Through the Steppes".
After the United States, the writer traveled around Europe for a long time, as a result of which he wrote the short story "Yanko the Musician".
Having become quite famous in the genre of short fiction, Heinrich Sienkiewicz decided to try to take on larger works.
The historical trilogy of novels by Henryk Sienkiewicz about the adventures of Pan Michal Volodyevsky
In the eighties of the nineteenth century, Poland was part of the Russian Empire. However, the Poles dreamed of gaining freedom and periodically raised uprisings. After the suppression of another of them, tough measures were introduced in Poland: it was forbidden to teach in Polish in educational institutions, instead Russian was to be used. In addition, it was fashionable in Polish literature at that time to write about contemporary events. So Heinrich Sienkiewicz took a very risky approach to writing a historical novel.
"With Fire and Sword" is the first novel of the writer. It was published in 1884 in the magazine Friend of the People. The success was stunning. Readers liked it so much that soon the novel was published as a separate book.
The work told about the uprising of Ukrainian Cossacks underleadership of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. At the same time, the main characters were the Polish gentry Jan Skshetuski, Michal Volodyevsky, Jan Zagloba and Longin Podbipyatka. Many real historical characters also appeared in the novel: Khmelnitsky, Jeremiah Vishnevetsky, Ivan Bohun and Tugai Bey.
Despite the descriptions of the historical battles and adventures of the gentry, the love triangle between Bohun, Skshetusky and the beautiful Princess Elena Kurtsevich was at the center of the novel.
After the tremendous success of the book "Fire and Sword" Henryk Sienkiewicz took up the sequel. The novel "The Flood" describes the period of the war between the Poles and the Swedes. There were also characters from the first book, beloved by readers, in the new work - Michal Volodyevsky and his eternal companion Pan Zagloba. However, now the main characters are the cornet Andrzej Kmitsic and his beloved panna Olga Billevich. When writing this novel, Genrikh Sienkiewicz took into account some of the surprises associated with the perception of readers of his first novel. The fact is that readers did not like the refined Skshetuski very much.
The main antagonist of the book, Ivan Bohun, turned out to be a brighter character and loved by readers: he was brave, noble and ardent. Realizing that people like such heroes, Sienkiewicz made Kmits look like Bohun, while being a patriot of his country. And I didn't guess. The popularity of Sienkiewicz's second novel surpassed that of the first.
In his third novel, the writer decidedto finally make Volodyevsky the main character, after whom he named his work. It described the war of the Commonwe alth with the Turks, love and the heroic death of Pan Michal.
Genrik (Genikh) Sienkiewicz: "Where are you going?"(Qua vadis?/"Where are you going?")
After the success of his trilogy, Sienkiewicz wrote several more historical novels, but they were no longer as popular as his first books. So he decided to write a novel about the Roman Empire in Nero's time. At the same time, Christians became the main actors, who defended their faith even in the face of death. The title of the new novel translated from Polish was “Where are you going?”.
Heinrich Sienkiewicz took the ancient legend about the stay of the Apostle Peter in Rome as the basis for the plot. About how, fleeing persecution, the apostle decided to leave the city, but he saw Christ going to the city, and, repenting of his cowardice, returned to Rome to be martyred.
In addition to the courage of Christians and the stupidity, cruelty and mediocrity of Nero, Senkevich showed in his novel a wonderful love story of a Christian girl Lygia and a courageous Roman patrician Mark Vinicius. As in his past works, Heinrich Sienkiewicz used a win-win formula: a noble, handsome young hero changes for the better throughout the book and renounces his delusions because of love.
This novel glorified the writer far beyond the borders of his homeland and was especially noted by the Pope, thanks to which in 1905 the writer was awarded the Nobel Prizeawards.
The Crusaders Historical Novel
After the triumph of the novel "What are you coming for?" returned to his favorite topic - the history of Poland - writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. The Crusaders was the title of his next novel. In it, he described the period in the history of his native country, when the Poles fought against Germanization and the power of the Order of the Teutonic Knights.
Against the backdrop of a large-scale struggle against foreign occupation, the author spoke about the love of the young knight Zbyzhok from Bogdanets and Danusya, daughter of Yurand from Spychov.
It is noteworthy that in this novel the writer depicted the female image of Jagenka from Zgorzelitz, uncharacteristic for the literature of that time. This girl was independent, brave and determined - no wonder the main character fell in love with her.
The last years of the writer
The novel "The Crusaders" was the last truly famous work of the writer. And although Henryk Sienkiewicz published the novel "Whirlpools" in subsequent years, the book did not have much success with readers.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Heinrich Sienkiewicz moved to Switzerland. However, here he did not sit idly by, but opened a committee to help the Poles who became victims of the war. Here in Switzerland, he intended to write the novel Legions. However, he died before he could complete it.
The great writer was buried in the city of Vevey (Switzerland), but later the ashes of the deceased were reburied at home - in Warsaw.
After the death of Henryk (Genikh) Sienkiewicz, several monuments and busts were erected to himaround the world.
Senkevich's personal life
Despite his active writing, Heinrich Senkevich found time for his personal life - he was married three times.
The first wife was Maria Shetkevich. She bore the writer two children, but soon died of tuberculosis. In memory of her, the writer organized a fund to help cultural figures with tuberculosis.
Grief from the loss of his beloved wife, with whom they lived together for only four years, soon passed, and Henryk Adam Alexander married again. Maria Volodkovich from Odessa became his chosen one. This union was not long, the wife herself filed for divorce.
The last time the writer decided to marry Maria Babskaya was in 1904.
Screenings of works by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Heinrich Sienkiewicz had a huge impact on the world film culture. The books of this author almost from the moment of publication asked for screens. Even during the life of the writer, the first films based on his books were shot. True, these were silent black-and-white films - two film adaptations of "Where are you coming?", "The Flood" and "Charcoal sketches." Interestingly, only one of the four paintings was Polish.
In total, 23 films were shot based on the works of the writer. Most often filmed Qua vadis? - seven times. And it was only in 2001 that the Poles did it, while the Italians made films based on the book written by Henryk Sienkiewicz three times in a hundred years. "Where are you coming?" became the basis for two American films and one French.
Morebooks from the famous historical trilogy by Sienkiewicz are popular with filmmakers. In 1916, a film based on the novel The Flood was shot in the Russian Empire, and in Italy based on the book Fire and Sword in the 1960s.
However, the greatest success in this field was achieved by the Polish director Jerzy Hoffman, who managed to film the entire trilogy in thirty years. An interesting fact is that in his films the director achieved historical accuracy in everything, so that even the buttons of the characters corresponded to the era shown in the film.
Today, like a hundred years ago, the most revered and famous Polish writer is Henryk (Heinrich) Sienkiewicz. The biography of this man is truly amazing and worthy of competing with the plot of his works. Like his heroes, Senkevich tried all his life to remain a worthy person and helped his neighbors who needed it. I would like to believe that many modern cultural figures around the world will take an example from him.
