Novel · A way to begin
Quo Vadis
Quo vadis?
Henryk Sienkiewicz · 1896
Opening lines
Petroniusz obudził się zaledwie koło południa i jak zwykle, zmęczony bardzo.
Petronius woke only about midday and, as usual, very tired.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from wolnelektury.pl
Synopsis
In Nero's Rome, the patrician Marcus Vinicius, an officer back from the wars, falls in love with Lygia, a young Christian raised in a Roman household. In searching for her, he discovers the Christian community of Rome, its poverty, its simplicity and its faith, which contrast with the luxury and the games of the imperial court, while the emperor rules over a city where fire and persecution are smouldering.
Context
The novel appeared as a serial from 26 March 1895 to 29 February 1896 in the Gazeta Polska of Warsaw and, almost at the same time, in the Czas of Kraków and the Dziennik Poznański, one newspaper for each part of the partitioned country, before being collected in a volume in 1896. Beneath the persecuted Christians, Polish readers read their own subjugation. Translated into more than fifty languages, it was in 1900 the best-selling novel in France, and the cinema adapted it from the beginning of the century, up to Mervyn LeRoy's film in 1951 and Jerzy Kawalerowicz's in 2001.
Who it is for
A long historical novel written for serialisation, rich in spectacular scenes, the burning of Rome and the circus games. French translations since 1900.
Prizes and reception
The most famous of Polish novels outside Poland, which contributed to the Nobel Prize awarded to its author.
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