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CULTURE |  |
On
the One Hundredth Anniversary of the First Publication of "The Teutonic
Knights" by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Mark Twain once remarked
to a Viennese journalist: "If Polish literature had only Sienkiewicz
and Mickiewicz, it would already be great."
In 1900, in the Wł. Anczyc & Co. Press in Cracow, appeared the Gebetner
and Wolff edition of "The Teutonic Knights". This first publication
in book form of the Henryk Sienkiewicz novel bore the censor's date of
12th June 1900, and on the title page the legend "Jubilee Edition".
As with all the historical novels of Sienkiewicz, at the time of its printed
publication "The Teutonic Knights" was met with a decidedly
political reception. With its climactic moment being the Battle of Grunwald,
triumphant for the Poles, the work was seen from more than just literary
perspectives.
From
the time of the original idea for "The Teutonic Knights" to
the moment when the word "End" appeared on the page, eight years
passed. An astonishing work-rate, technical skill, source researching
and, of course, talent, enabled the writer, after many problems and four
years’ work, to write to M. Godlewski: "In two days' time, I shall
have finished "The Teutonic Knights" completely. At the moment,
I am in the middle of the battle description". The novel took shape,
with some breaks, from 1896 to 28th March 1900 in Zakopane, Kaltenleutgeben,
Warsaw, Ragaz, Nice, Ploumanach and Parc St. Maur, in spite of fatigue,
neuralgia and mental blanks: "…everything is difficult: the tone,
the mentality of these people - and the combination of their peasant coarseness
with knightly notions - and the language, which must evoke, through its
nuances, the feeling of distant times".
Sienkiewicz bestowed hero status on average knighthood, most clearly applying
to his characters the criteria of strength, bravery and skill. The most
important source works for the novel were "The Annals" of Jan
Długosz and Karol Szajnocha's monograph "Jadwiga and Jagiello",
the two works which also had the greatest influence on the plot of the
novel.
"The
Teutonic Knights" was published in "Słowo" ("The Word")
between 2nd February and 30th December 1897, 4th January and 25th December
1898, 22nd January and 31st December 1899, and 6th January to 16th July
1900, simultaneously in "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" ("Illustrated
Weekly"), "Dziennik Poznański" ("Poznań Daily")
and "Gazeta Ludowa" ("The People's Paper").
Similarly to other works of Sienkiewicz, "The Teutonic Knights"
was translated into many languages (about 30 in all).
The exhibition "The 100th Anniversary of the First Edition of The
Teutonic Knights", mounted in the Henryk Sienkiewicz Literary Museum
in Poznań, includes the original publication in "Tygodnik Ilustrowany",
the first edition, other Polish editions, and 13 translations of the novel,
as well as works of art - illustrations to "The Teutonic Knights"
by Boratyński and Kossak. In addition, there are period weapons such as
a 15th century sword and spurs, and a sequence concerning hunting (with
preserved animals and antlers). One can also see documentation from the
performances of the "KuĽnia" ("Forge") experimental
theatre, which, in the 1950s, presented "The Teutonic Knights"
not only on stage, but also in open-air performance (in 1957, by the walls
of Malbork Castle). The 1960 film adaptation directed by Aleksander Ford
is also being shown, and the guest of honour at the opening of the exhibition
was Mieczysław Kaletnik, who played the film role of Zbyszek of Bogdaniec.
Barbara Sokołowska-Hurnowicz
Anna Surzyńska-Błaszak
The Henryk Sienkiewicz Literary Museum in Poznań