The Latin phrase Quo Vadis? has been the title of a famous novel and number of dramatized versions of the tale.

The phrase "Quo Vadis"

Quo Vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" and is part of Christian lore (based on the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says, "If thou desertest my people, I am going to Rome to be crucified a second time", which shames Peter into going back to Rome to accept martyrdom. ).

The original novel

Though it is commonly known as Quo Vadis, the full title of the original novel is Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero and was written in Polish by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916)[1]. It 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.

First published in installments in three journals (Gazeta Polska - between 26 March 1895 and 29 February 1896 - Czas and Dziennik Poznański), and as a book in 1896, the novel was translated into more than 50 languages over time. Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Prize for Literature for Quo Vadis and and some of his other novels.

Translations and adaptations

Various stage versions and several films were based on the tale, including two Italian silent films (1913 and 1924), a plush Hollywood production in 1951 (nominated for eight Academy Awards), a 1985 miniseries directed by Franco Rossi, and a 2001 adaptation by Jerzy Kawalerowicz.[2]

Quo Vadis, a stage play

The case of The Sign of the Cross, a stage play by Wilson Barrett=

Written and produced by Wilson Barrett, and English play called The Sign of the Cross appeared in the same year that the novel Quo vadis began appearing in the . The play was first performed 28 March 1895.[13] Several elements in the play strongly resemble those in Quo Vadis. In both, a Roman soldier named Marcus falls in love with a Christian woman and wishes to "possess" her. (In the novel, her name is Lycia, in the play she is Mercia.) Nero, Tigellinus and Poppea are major characters in both the play and novel, and in both, Poppea lusts after Marcus. Petronius, however, does not appear in The Sign of the Cross, and the ending of the play diverges from that of Quo Vadis.

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quo_Vadis_(novel)

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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