Potop: Tom Pierwszy

The Trilogy #2.1

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

The Deluge was first published in 1886 and it is the second volume of a three-volume series known to Poles as "The Trilogy," having been preceded by With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1884) and followed by Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wo odyjowski, 1888). The novel tells a story of a fictional Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth soldier and noble Andrzej Kmicic and shows a panorama of the Commonwealth during its historical period of the Deluge, which was a part of the Northern Wars. The novel itself is in three volumes, of which this is the first."

Genres: Classics, School, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Polish Literature, Audiobook, Historical

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (also known as "Litwos"; May 5, 1846–November 15, 1916) was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. He was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer."

Born into an impoverished gentry family in the Podlasie village of Wola Okrzejska, in Russian-ruled Poland, Sienkiewicz wrote historical novels set during the Rzeczpospolita (Polish Republic, or Commonwealth). His works were noted for their negative portrayal of the Teutonic Order in The Teutonic Knights (Krzyżacy), which was remarkable as a significant portion of his readership lived under German rule. Many of his novels were first serialized in newspapers, and even today are still in print. In Poland, he is best known for his historical novels "With Fire and Sword", "The Deluge", and "Fire in the Steppe" (The Trilogy) set during the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while internationally he is best known for Quo Vadis, set in Nero's Rome. Quo Vadis has been filmed several times, most notably the 1951 version.

Sienkiewicz was meticulous in attempting to recreate the authenticity of historical language. In his Trilogy, for instance, he had his characters use the Polish language as he imagined it was spoken in the seventeenth century (in reality it was far more similar to 19th-century Polish than he imagined). In The Teutonic Knights, which relates to the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, he even had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated in part from archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of Podhale.

In 1881, Sienkiewicz married Maria Szetkiewicz (1854-1885). They had two children, Henryk Józef (1882-1959) and Jadwiga Maria (1883–1969).

Reviews

[Wiki · Rating 1 out of 5]

potop to się lał łez

[martwa]

chujnia pizda co to było, nie ma bazy i nigdy nie było

[kuroishi]

mam dosc, a mysl, ze zostaly mi jeszcze dwa tomy, sprawia, ze chce rzucic sie z okna ngl

[Martyna Jędrych · Rating 5 out of 5]

kmicic daddy

[Łucja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zagłoba fav

[nati w · Rating 1 out of 5]

sienkiewicz wypierdalaj z tym

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smutno mi, że katuje się dzieci "Krzyzakami", podczas gdy Trylogię czyta się jak dobrą książkę akcji, która wciąga i możliwe, że przyjechałam dwa przystanki, tak zaczytana byłam... no zachwycam się i dziwię, bo nigdy nie przypuszczałam, że to powiem: "ależ świetny ten Sienkiewicz!"

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual for Sienkiewicz's novels, we have an old-school interesting mixture of both history and fiction, real and fictional characters, a lot of action and much empathy.
Wonder how such books will resist during times, but perhaps lovers of good books will exist forever...

[Martyna]

Panu już podziękujemy

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apr 16, 150pm ~~ Review asap. First I need to start Volume 2 right away and find out what happens in the battle in the last chapter of this book!

Apr 19, 1130am ~~ The title of this book, The Deluge, is the name of the historical period during the breakup of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1600's. This first volume picks up the story about three years after the ending of With Fire And Sword. Some of the same characters return, but the main focus is on a new pair, Andrei and Olenka, as they follow the twisted path of true love (we hope!) in the middle of a world that is falling apart.

The first few chapters introduce the reasons for the love match and allow Andrei and Olenka to meet, but after that the main focus of the story is history itself. Invasion from Sweden, capitulation from many of the nobles that are in control of the many different areas of the Commonwealth, traitors and spies and greedy nobles who only think for themselves, not for their own king and country. It was a mess.

The book ends in the middle of the siege of the Jasna Góra Monastery, founded in 1382 and home to an icon known as the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. Volume 2 of The Deluge, which I am trying desperately to find time for right now, picks up exactly where Volume 1 left off and I am very anxious to learn the result of the siege so I will stop writing and get back to reading.

Just one more comment: although this book is different from With Fire And Sword as far as characters and adventures go, it is still an amazing work and is teaching me many things about an area of the world I pretty much took for granted in my school years. I don't remember reading anything about any of these events. Oh, and there is a movie of the book on YouTube, so I have added that to my list of things to watch and read when I am finished with the entire Trilogy.

Now, back to the siege!

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished! I'm crying oh my gosh.

Review to come later (probably).

[zuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kmicic i Zagłoba slayed. Chociaż jak się nie umie historii w jakimkolwiek stopniu to czyta się to jeszcze gorzej. Za dużo zawiłości politycznych

[Zuzanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

yyyy spoko? akcja książki jest nawet nawet ciekawa tylko czemu to takie długie

[marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

what on earth is going on in the house of commons

[hanna ✩ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Naprawdę nie wiem kto uznał, że zmuszanie uczniów do czytania tej cegły rozbudzi w nich miłość do książek.

[Marta Kurzajewska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie najgorsze jak narazie, ale to gadanie o wojnie mogliby skrócić😐 Ik its The main point ale i tak.

[wiki · Rating 3 out of 5]

kmicic dostaje ode mnie 10/10 🤭 teraz jeszcze kolejne 2 tomy💀

[emilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally. It is done.

This book was definetly a labour- I wanted to give myself a challenge and decided to go for a version that had Sienkiewicz's original 1886 text written, not a modern polish version.

That was my first mistake.

It made the book three times more difficult and laborous to read, even as a native polish speaker. However, a plus side is that I find my vocabulary has widened! I never knew of some the expressions or terms used in the book were gramatically correct in polish. To sum this point up, very brain intensive but worth it in the end.

Now. The plot.

I generally enjoy historical fiction. Potop is based on the Swedish invasion of Poland (1655-1660), the title literally means "the Flood" or "the Deluge"- the Swedes invaded from the Baltic Sea and overwhelmed Poland's military, so the title is not only incredibly clever but accurate aswell. Without spoiling, there are many shocking twists and characters are left alone and totally dumbfounded. The invasion brought into question the point of togetherness; If one loose strand can destroy the entire canvas, is there a point to brotherhood? Very dramatic, the love drama between Oleńka and Kmicic is also very thrilling and literally traumatizing at times.

The end was VERY shocking.

I did NOT expect Sienkiewicz to use insults that are used today in regular dialogue, but I was so intrigued! I couldn't even leave the page, I thought it was so funny. The final pages made me second guess everything the book had told me up to that point, and makes us question the sanity of some of the Hetmani and of course, the safety of one of the beloved characters.

In conclusion, although it was dificult to read and the language became a bit overwhelming at times, I generally enjoyed the book a lot. This is classic polish literature, and I cannot wait to read the second book.

Slay!

[suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

bylo lepiej niż sądziłam

[Matylda]

gowno

[ola ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

16 h historii 🙄🙄
i sami faceci
chciałam zbrodnię i karę omawiać a nie to

[Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gdyby Sienkiewicz potrafił pisać zwięźle, to zdecydowanie bardziej byśmy się polubili.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The key to enjoying "The Deluge" is to read the most recent translation by W.S. Kuniczak. Do not be tempted as I was by the free copies of this work available at Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive. These free versions are of the 19th century translation by Jeremiah Curtin. Curtin reduced the total length of the work by about 35% and in so doing threw out the baby with the bath water. The Kuniczak translation is absolutely wonderful and is the only version that should be considered.
"The Deluge" is the second volume of Henry Sienkiewicz's "Trilogy" which is the national epic. Unless you are a diehard fan of the historical, swashbuckler genre, you probably read the first volume "With Fire and Sword" because you wished to experience the work that has so profoundly marked Poles for the last 140 years. I urge you to continue through to the end because the work is in fact of extraordinary value despite all its extravagances which its critics have unjustly labeled as faults.
The first thing that strikes the reader about "Trilogy" is its uncanny resemblance to Alexandre Dumas D'Artagnan cycle. Like the D'Artagnan cycle it originally appeared in serialization, is filled with real historical persons, dashing heroes, endless sabre duels, over-used clichés and hackneyed comedy. The "Trilogy" is indeed not for the cynical.
What a reader from the Anglo-Saxon world might not know was that the style of "The Trilogy" was already passé at the time that it was written which the author knew quite well. Dumas had already been dead for fifteen years when the first episodes began to appear in the Polish newspapers in the mid 1880s. Sienkiewicz knew that he was adopting an out of date literary format. In fact, Sienkiewicz had been for most the previous ten years a member of Poland's avant-garde "Positivist" movement which wrote in the style of the great French naturalist Emile Zola.
The Positivists emerged as a group following Poland's failed rebellion of 1863. They concluded that the previous seventy years of Polish uprisings had done nothing but increased the oppression exercised on the Poles by its three occupying powers, Russia, Prussia and Austria. More importantly, they were concerned that the rebellions were purely reactionary in spirit and that the leaders had no interest in modernizing the Poland. The Positivists were as progressive as New England's Transcendentalists. They were for the abolition of serfdom, the emancipation of Jews, the emancipation of women, public education and the removal of privileges for the Roman Catholic Church. They felt that their goals could be pursued successfully under the regimes of the various occupying powers and felt that it was time for Poles to quite organizing insurrections.
In the 1880s, Sienkiewicz had a change of heart. He became a nationalist and dropped the Positivist style. He continued to support the progressive social agenda of the Positivists and maintained his social contacts with the other Positivists, but be was determined in his words to write a work to "uplift hearts"; that is to say, he wrote historical novels about eras in the past when Poles had united to resist foreign invaders. Not surprisingly he dropped the naturalist writing style and adopted a romantic approach that was prevalent in the Italian operas of the day which were endeavouring to rally Italians against their foreign occupiers.
Sienkiewicz's Positivist friends were horrified at the time and Sienkiewicz's critics ever since have denigrated him as a writer of trite cape and sword adventures. When the Russians installed a communist regime in Poland in 1945, Sienkiewicz's Trilogy acquired renewed vigour. It was intensely Catholic and highly nationalist at a time when the Polish state was a puppet regime intent on eliminating religion in Polish society.
For Poles living under the Communist regime, the Deluge was the most important book in the Trilogy because it dealt with the themes of moral redemption and the need for the Polish people to rally around the Roman Catholic Church . The hero Kmita makes two greats sins. First he brings a group of violent friends with him when he goes to meet his fiance and allow them to commit acts of violence against the local population. His fiance breaks off the engagement and banishes Kmita from her presence. Kmitat then commits a second great sin when he enters the service Polish Lutheran allied to Swedish King who has invaded Poland. When Kmita realizes that he has made a mistake he cannot not join the forces of the Polish resistance because he is a known traitor, so he flees to the monastery at Czestochowa. He arrives just before the Swedes lay siege to the monastery and fights with valor with the defenders until the siege is lifted. This incident will launch Kmita on the road to redemption that will lead him to marrying his fiance six hundred pages later. The tortuous story is vaguely reminiscent of Alessandro Manzoni's nationalistic classic of the 1830s "The Betrothed".
Like "The Betrothed", the "Deluge" is an extremely tough slog for anyone given to cynicism. However, it is one that lets you look into the soul of a people and is worth the effort. If you can suppress your cynical side, it will even be a great pleasure.

[Pola Kropielnicka · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3 jeszcze tylko dwa tomy…😵‍💫👍👍👍
Ale w sumie nie było to takie złe, w sensie pierwsze 100-150 stron mi się no dłużyło bardzo, ale później już było w miarę git. Postać Kmicica głównie tu ratuje tą książkę, przez co da się ją znieść. Mam nadzieję, że następne tomy będą ciekawsze i nie będę zasypiać po 15 stronach czytania. Byłoby miło.

[Klaudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,75/5
Nawet mi się podobało

[Hiena Biblioteczna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few months ago I wrote that "Ogniem i mieczem" is the best polish classic. I was mistaken...
I think that "Potop" is better than the first part of "Trilogy". The first cause: the main character. I've found Kmicic much interesting than Jan Skrzetuski. I could have easily identified with Andrzej - he is struggling with his flaws, he is trying to be better person, even though there is a lot of obstacles on his way to change. Kmicic is dynamic character - reader meets Andrzej as impulsive, violent person. Then he becomes loyal patriot and noble warrior. But the most important thing - he is not losing his charisma.
The second reason why I think that "Potop" is the best part of "Trilogy" is great amount of iconic scenes - duel between Wołodyjowski and Kmicic, blowing up the cannon by Andrzej, protecting the king by Kmicic, etc. ...
The third cause: iconic quotes! "Kończ, waść... wstydu oszczędź". "Ja jestem Kowalski, a to jest pani Kowalska". "Ociec, prać"?... And more and more!
"Potop" is a very absorbing novel. Every reader can find something that pulls his attention.
I am truly captivated by this story.
For now: I think that "Potop" is the best polish classic. But I'm having "Pan Wołodyjowski" on my 'to read' list, so my opinion may change really fast.

[Natalia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nienawidzę lektur, essa

[Jan Kułak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Najbardziej pierwszorzędny pisarz drugorzędny

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nudne jak cholera, tylko kmicic był fajny, jebać sienkiewicza.

[ala · Rating 4 out of 5]

całkiem git. końcówka bardzo fajna ale zdarzyło mi się usnąć przy tej książce🥰