Background

Sienkiewicz was born on May 5, 1846 in Wola Okrzejska, Poland. His family were impoverished Polish nobles, on his father's side deriving from Tatars who had settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His parents were Józef Sienkiewicz (1813-1896) and Stefania, née Cieciszowska (1820-1873). He had five siblings: an older brother, Kazimierz (died during January Uprising), and four sisters, Aniela, Helena, Zofia and Maria. His family were entitled to use the Polish Oszyk coat of arms. Wola Okrzejska belonged to the writer's maternal grandmother, Felicjana Cieciszowska. His family moved several times, and young Henryk spent his childhood on family estates in Grabowce Górne, Wężyczyn and Burzec.

Education

In September 1858 Sienkiewicz began his education in Warsaw. He received relatively poor school grades except in the humanities, notably Polish language and history. An average student, Sienkiewicz graduated to a post as tutor in a wealthy family before returning to Warsaw University; there he hesitated between medicine and law, finally transferring to the faculty of history and literature. He left the university in 1871 without taking his examinations.

Career

Sienkiewicz had begun to publish critical articles in 1869 that showed the influence of Positivism, a system of philosophy -

popular in Poland and elsewhere at the time - emphasizing in particular the achievements of science. His first novel, Na marne (In Vain), was published in 1872, and his first short story, “Stary sługa” (“An Old Retainer”), in 1875. Sienkiewicz traveled in the United States (1876-1878) and, upon his return to Poland after a prolonged stay in Paris, published a number of successful short stories, among them “Janko muzykant” (1879; “Yanko the Musician”), “Latarnik” (1882; “The Lighthouse Keeper”), and “Bartek zwyciezca” (1882; “Bartek the Conqueror”). The last story appears in a volume of his stories entitled Charcoal Sketches and Other Tales (1990), and there is also a volume of his stories entitled Selected Tales (1976).

From 1882 to 1887 Sienkiewicz was coeditor of the daily Słowo (“The Word”). In 1900, to celebrate the 30th year of his career as a writer, the Polish people presented him with the small estate of Oblęgorek, near Kielce in south-central Poland, where he lived until 1914. At the outbreak of World War I he went to Switzerland, where, together with the famous politician and pianist Ignacy Paderewski, he promoted the cause of Polish independence and organized relief for Polish war victims.

Sienkiewicz’s great trilogy of historical novels began to appear in Słowo in 1883. It comprises Ogniem i mieczem (1884; With Fire and Sword), Potop (1886; The Deluge), and Pan Wołodyjowski (1887-1888; Pan Michael, also published as Fire in the Steppe; filmed 1969). Set in the later 17th century, the trilogy describes Poland’s struggles against Cossacks, Tatars, Swedes, and Turks, stressing Polish heroism with epic range and with clarity and simplicity. The finest of the three works, With Fire and Sword, describes the Poles’ attempts to halt the rebellion of the Zaporozhian Cossacks led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

Sienkiewicz’s other novels include the widely translated Quo vadis? (1896; Quo vadis), a historical novel set in Rome under Nero, which established Sienkiewicz’s international reputation. Although Sienkiewicz’s major novels have been criticized for their theatricality and lack of historical accuracy, they display great narrative power and contain vivid characterizations.

Works

More photos

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  • Fire in the Steppe

    (Close on the heels of the magnificent With Fire and Sword...)

  • Quo Vadis

    (Rome during the reign of Nero was a glorious place for th...)

  • The Teutonic Knights

    (When the Order of Teutonic Knights kidnaps Zbyszko's wife...)

  • Pan Michael

    (At a time when the state of Poland was constantly undergo...)

  • With Fire and Sword

    (At a time when the state of Poland was constantly undergo...)

  • The Deluge (2 Volumes)

    (Two volume set, in modern translation by W. S. Kuniczak. ...)

Membership

Member of the Polish Academy of Learning, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Royal Czech Society of Sciences, the Italian Academy of Arcadia, the Swedish Academy

Connections

Father:

Józef Sienkiewicz

Mother:

Stefania Cieciszowska

Spouse:

Maria Szetkiewicz

Brother:

Kazimierz Sienkiewicz

Sister:

Maria Sienkiewicz

Sister:

Zofia Sienkiewicz

Sister:

Helena Sienkiewicz

Sister:

Aniela Sienkiewicz

Daughter:

Jadwiga Maria

Son:

Henryk Józef

References

• Henryk Sienkiewicz: a Retrospective Synthesis
• Henryk Sienkiewicz: A Biography
• The Patriot Novelist of Poland Henryk Sienkiewicz
• The History of Polish Literature, Updated edition