Henryk Adam Alexander Pius Sienkiewicz is the novelist, newspaperman and publicist. He was the first Polish writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905, the writer who was worshiped by many generations of Poles for awakening of the sense of national identity and patriotism. Henryk Sienkiewicz was born in the Podlasie village of Wola Okrzejska in Russian-ruled Poland on May 5, 1846 and died in Vevey, Switzerland, on November 15, 1916. This year marks the 173rd anniversary of his birth and the 103rd anniversary of his death.
He came from an impoverished gentry family who lived in Podlasie and used the coat of arms Oszyk.
He graduated from a secondary school in Warsaw and studied at Warsaw University. From the very beginning, his creative genius was imbued with patriotism, as well as with the then popular ideas of the positivistic series of articles entitled “Work on Foundations”. His outstanding works of fiction include With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wolodyjowski), The Polaniecki Family, Quo Vadis?, The Teutonic Knights, In Desert and Wilderness.
As a token of gratitude, the Polish people gifted him an estate in the village of Oblegorek where Sienkiewicz had lived for some time.
During World War I Henryk Sienkiewicz was in Switzerland where he headed the Committee for Assistance to War Victims, providing relief for the victims of hostilities.
After the war his remains were repatriated to Warsaw and solemnly buried in the crypt of St. John’s Cathedral.
Here are some interesting facts about the life of this extremely interesting person. Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote 36 books. He liked the feminine name Maria very much. In fact, Sienkiewicz gave his daughter this name and all of his wives bore the name Maria, namely Maria Szetkiewiczowna, Maria Romanowska and Maria Babska. Moreover, Sienkiewicz was briefly engaged to Kiellerowna (her engagement to him was broken because of information about the huge debts of the writer) who also bore the name Maria. Maria Radziejewska, candidate for a wife whom he rejected, committed suicide.
Sienkiewicz had four sisters, a brother and two children, son Henryk Josef and daughter Jadwiga Maria. His grandmother Felicjana Cieciszowska was the owner of Wola Okrzejska where the writer was born.
Sienkiewicz suffered acutely from an inferiority complex because of his short (1.54 meter) height.
Henryk Sienkiewicz also used the pen name “Litwos” as all his ancestors on the father’s side derived from the Tatars who had settled in Lithuania.
After tsarist authorities had closed down the Main School where training was given in the Polish language, Sienkiewicz pursued his studies at Warsaw University in which subjects were taught in the Russian language. In 1870 he terminated his studies at the university without taking final examinations.
Translated by Volodymyr SytinAir Jordan trends