Tag: classic

QUO VADIS by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Rome during the reign of Nero was a glorious place for the emperor and his court; there were grand feasts, tournaments for poets, and exciting games and circuses filling the days and nights. The pageantry and pretentious displays of excess were sufficient to cloy the senses of participants as well as to offend the sensitive. Petronius, a generous and noble Roman, a man of the world much in favor at the court of Nero, is intrigued by a strange tale related by his nephew Marcus Vinitius of his encounter with a mysterious young woman called Ligia with whom Vinitius falls madly in love. Ligia, a captured King’s daughter and a one-time hostage of Rome, is now a foster child of a noble Roman household. She is also a Christian. The setting of the narrative was prepared with utmost care. Henryk Sienkiewicz visited the Roman settings many times and was thoroughly educated in the historical background. As an attempt to create the spirit of antiquity, the novel met with unanimous acclaim, which earned the Nobel Prize in literature for the author in 1905. As a vision of ancient Rome and early Christianity it has not yet been surpassed, almost a century later.

Check out this book on Goodreads: Quo Vadis https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/538845.Quo_Vadis

Reylo vibe recommendation by @ewa-jednak-chce-spac sees similarties between Quo Vadis and the reylo dynamic due to the fact that one of the main plots involves a romantic storyline between a violent young soldier from a noble family (Marcus Vinitius) and a young, innocent, christian woman(Ligia). Marcus is obsessed with the Ligia and kidnaps her and proceeds to get a redemption arc.

Film and tv adaptions of this book:

1901 France / imbd

1913 Italy /
youtube

1924 Italy / imbd

1951 USA / youtube

1985 Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, UK, West Germany

/ youtube

2001 Poland / youtube

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THE DELUGE by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Following on the success of With Fire and Sword, this second book of the classic Sienkiewicz Trilogy thunders across the vast historical canvas of Eastern Europe in the 17th Century, and its great human message of war, struggle, love, betrayal and redemption rings just as powerfully today as it did when it was first published in Polish in 1886.

The Deluge is a literary masterpiece, almost unknown today outside its native country, that sweeps across the plains and forests of Poland, Lithuania and Prussia in an epic tale of treasons, faith, selfishness, sacrifice and heroic valor, set against the bloody background of the Swedish invasion of 1655-1657, in an uncanny parallel to the events of our own decade, when an exploited and exhausted Poland threw off the yoke of foreign domination, reacquired its freedom, and opened the doors to liberty in East and Central Europe. Told by a master storyteller who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905, this scorching tale of battles, passions, and intrigues is the structural and thematic heart of the Trilogy, Poland’s most enduring and popular prose epic. Like the other two books of the Sienkiewicz Trilogy, The Deluge not only depicts vital historical events but mirrors a people’s soul. It is a masterful blend of history and imagination that shows whole nations as well as individuals caught up in earthshaking events and fighting for their lives, and rediscovering themselves through their own commitments.

A new cast of fictional and historical heroines and heroes joins the unforgettable characters of With Fire and Sword, brought to life with a depth seldom found in historical fiction. There is the turbulent and self-willed Andrei Kmita, misled into treason, who triumphs over his enemies as well as himself; the beautiful and thoughtful Olenka whose decency and goodness confound a treacherous villain and inspire the hero; the valiant Father Kordetzki who defends Poland’s holiest shrine and wakens the conscience of a nation; the tragically ambitious Prince Yanush Radzivill and his ruthless cousin, Prince Boguslav, who betray their country; and dozens of others. As in all three novels of the Trilogy, The Deluge dazzles with a gallery of Kings, chancellors, generals, magnates, mercenaries, brave soldiers, heroic spiritual leaders and other historical figures who created the era in which this book is set. Rich in action, drama, humor, faith and simple wisdom, they are part of one human experience, not confined to any single nation; as thrilling, true and challenging today as in their own time, and vital to our understanding of the new Europeans.

First put into 19th Century English more than 100 years ago, and now largely forgotten in the western world, The Deluge comes brilliantly back to life in this rich new adaptation directly from Polish, made by a Polish-born American novelist for the modern reader, and it illuminates the national character of the extraordinary people who are now taking center stage in a free and democratic Europe.

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Deluge https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25239218-the-deluge

Reylo vibe recommendation by @ewa-jednak-chce-spac

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THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN
Poem Alexander Pushkin

Betrayed by her sisters, a tsarina and her infant son are marooned on a barren island until a magical swan helps them regain their rightful heritage.

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Tale of Tsar Saltan https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/111750.The_Tale_of_Tsar_Saltan

Reylo vibe recommendation by @ewa-jednak-chce-spac

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THE BLUE CASTLE by L. M. Montgomery

Valancy lives a drab life with her overbearing mother and prying aunt. Then a shocking diagnosis from Dr. Trent prompts her to make a fresh start. For the first time, she does and says exactly what she feels. As she expands her limited horizons, Valancy undergoes a transformation, discovering a new world of love and happiness. One of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s only novels intended for an adult audience, The Blue Castle is filled with humour and romance.

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Blue Castle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95693.The_Blue_Castle

Reylo recommendation by @ewa-jednak-chce-spac

THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Bulgakov’s devastating satire of Soviet life was written during the darkest period of Stalin’s regime. Combining two distinct yet interwoven parts—one set in ancient Jerusalem, one in contemporary Moscow—the novel veers from moods of wild theatricality with violent storms, vampire attacks, and a Satanic ball; to such somber scenes as the meeting of Pilate and Yeshua, and the murder of Judas in the moonlit garden of Gethsemane; to the substanceless, circus-like reality of Moscow. Its central characters, Woland (Satan) and his retinue—including the vodka-drinking black cat, Behemoth; the poet, Ivan Homeless; Pontius Pilate; and a writer known only as The Master, and his passionate companion, Margarita—exist in a world that blends fantasy and chilling realism, an artful collage of grotesqueries, dark comedy, and timeless ethical questions.

Though completed in 1940, “The Master and Margarita” wasn’t published in Moscow until 1966, when the first part appeared in the magazine “Moskva.” It was an immediate and enduring success: audiences responded with great enthusiasm to its expression of artistic and spiritual freedom.

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Master and Margarita https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117833.The_Master_and_Margarita

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