Quo Vadis de Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quo Vadis

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, commonly known as Quo Vadis, is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. "Quo vadis Domine" is Latin for "Where are you going, Lord?" and alludes to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says "I am going back to be crucified again," which makes Peter go back to Rome and accept martyrdom. Sienkiewicz studied the Roman Empire extensively prior to writing the novel, with the aim of getting historical details correct. As such, several historical figures appear in the book. This novel contributed to Sienkiewicz's Nobel Prize for literature in 1905, and has been translated into more than 50 languages. Several movies were adapted based on Quo Vadis including the 1925 Italian silent film Quo Vadis, the 1951 Hollywood production Quo Vadis and the 2001 adaptation by Jerzy Kawalerowicz.

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Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (1846 - 1916) was a Polish journalist, novelist and the Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especially for his internationally known best-seller Quo Vadis (1896). Born into an impoverished Polish noble family in Russian-ruled Congress Poland, in the late 1860s Sienkiewicz began publishing journalistic and literary pieces. In the late 1870s he traveled to the United States, sending back travel essays that won him popularity with Polish readers. In the 1880s he began serializing novels that further increased his popularity. He soon became one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 20th century and numerous translations gained him international renown, culminating in his receipt of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer."