SIENKIEWICZ, syen-kye'vech, HENRYK (1846—). A famous Polish novelist, born in Wola Okrzejska, Government of Siedlce. On graduating from the Realgymnasium at War saw he studied philosophy at the university of that city and made his literary debut in 1872 with a humorous story, Nobody is a Prophet in His Own. Country. In 1S76 he visited California and described his experiences in a series of letters to the Polish Gazette (of War saw) under the pseudonym "Litwos." They at tracted much attention by their keen observation, quaint humor, and generally attractive style. His drama, On. a Card, dealing with the party struggles in Galicia (1879), as well as his stories, From the Note-Book of a Posen Teacher, Hanja, and Yanko the Musician, increased his popularity. In 1880 he produced the novel The Tatar Bondage. Its success induced him to con tinue work in the same line, and the great novel With Fire and Sword (1884), with its sequels, The Deluge (1S86) and Pan Michael (1SS7-S8), followed. Beyond any doubt they are the great est. novels dealing with the struggle of the Poles and Cossacks. The characters are often untrue
to history, but the Dumas-like power of evoking an historical personage and surrounding it with a halo of romanticism places Sienkiewicz's works among the most enjoyable of historical novels. His Without Dogma (1S90) is a study in pathological psychology. The Children of the Coil (1894) is a novel of contemporary Po lish manners. Quo Vadis (1895) brought its author greatei fame than all his previous efforts. He sagaciously saw and fully exploited the dramatic possibilities of the remarkable epoch of Nero's reign for an historical novel. Its success as a novel was enormous, and it has several times been dramatized. his Knights of the Cross takes the reader back to the time of the struggles be tween the Poles and the Teutonic Order. Sienkie wicz was editor-in-chief of the periodical Slow() (The Word) for many years. His works have been translated into several European languages. There are at least three different translations in English, the one by Jeremiah Curtin being sanctioned by the author.