Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" and is the title of a Polish novel Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916)[1]

The original novel

Though it is commonly known as Quo Vadis, the full title of original novel is Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero and tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Lygia (Ligia in Polish) and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician. It takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero, c. AD 64.

Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Prize for Literature for Quo Vadis and For this and some of his other novels.

Translations and adaptations

The novel was adapted as a stage play called Quo Vadis

Several film versions were made of the tale, including including a 1951 version that was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

The Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote the novel Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero (1895), which in turn has been made into motion pictures several times, including a 1951 version that was nominated for eight Academy Awards.[4] For this and other novels, Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed as Lucretia Borgia by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.203-205

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