Customer Reviews

The Trilogy Companion: A Reader's Guide to the Trilogy of Henryk Sienkiewicz

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I was hoping that this book would provide details of the historical background of the trilogy, and place the literature in the context of the events it represents. Instead, the historical information is about what one would find in a typical encyclopedia article on Poland. The rest of the book consists introductions originally written for the three volumes of the trilogy in the Kuniczak translation, but no longer published with them, and some discussion on the history and problems of translating Sienkiewicz. These latter seem intended to glorify the Kuniczak translation, but I for one was not convinced by the examples provided. I read With Fire and Sword in the Curtin translation and The Deluge in the Kuniczak, and I was put off by the modernisms and obvious inserted connective material that appears in the latter.

On the other hand, it was fun to read about how Sienkiewicz produced his work, and his relationship with his contemporary translators.

Henryk Sienkiewicz's trilogy can be difficult to get through without a good grasp of Polish history, which, to be truthful, is hard to come by here in the States. I therefore recommend this guide to all those who want to really understand the books instead of just taking them for face value. I think that having this guide really involved me in the books and gave me something extra that the average reader would leave the book lacking.

This book is not an overview of the historical times in the Trilogy, but rather a description of the translation and publication issues that were faced in order to origonally produce the novels. There is a brief description of Poland's history in the beginning, but it was simply an overview defining the organization of the rulers and the Commonwealth; with very little historical explanations which can not be found on a simple Google search, sadly. There are also chapters dedicated to how the books were accepted by their readers from when they first appeared to when the world-wide crowds got a look of them, saying that "It is a phenomenon that approached the Bible, Sienkiewicz's trilogy became a national bestseller which would stay on the top charts in Poland for 100 years...."

The only useful segment for people eager to understand or at least have a firmer grasp of the books is a character glossery near the back, featuring a very fine list of over 50 names. One would find it difficult to find such a useful list anywhere else.

The only reasons to buy this book are to understand the translation issues as well as the problems faced during the publication, as well as the glossery in the end. Any historical curiosity of the books' plots' time periods will prove this companion to be a failure.