A patriotic historical novel—— Henrik Schenkwij is a well-known Polish writer familiar to Chinese readers.His historical novel "Where Are You Going" and a collection of short stories have already been introduced to our country.It is another important historical novel by the author. The introduction to Chinese readers this time will enable Chinese readers to get a better understanding of this writer. Henrik Schenkwij was born on May 4, 1846 in a landowner family in Poland.Most of his early works describe the life of Polish peasants, reflecting their hard work and miserable life.In 1871, Xiankeweizhi graduated from university. Since 1872, Xiankeweizhi has served as a special writer for "News" magazine, and published some satirical sketches and short stories.In 1876, Xian Keweizhi traveled to the United States and lived in the United States for nearly three years, witnessing the miserable lives of American laborers and immigrants.After returning to China, he wrote political commentary "Letters Traveling to America" ​​and some short stories, such as "For Bread" and "Orso".In these short stories, Schenkwidge exposed the hypocritical democracy of the American bourgeoisie and reflected the tragic experience of Polish immigrants in the United States.Later, Xian Keweizhi published short stories such as "Baljack the Victor".In these works, the author described the impoverished life of the Polish people, exposed the hypocrisy of the Polish landowners, and the brutality of the foreign occupiers.Since 1883, Xiankeweizhi has successively published the trilogy of historical novels "Fire and Sword", "The Torrent", and "Mr. Shlodoyevsky", reflecting the Polish people's opposition to foreign aggression in the 17th century. struggle, but also glorified the aristocratic landlord class.From 1894 to 1896, Xian Keweizhi created the historical novel "Where Are You Going", describing the brutal rule of Roman Emperor Nero and the persecution of Christians.In 1900, Xian Keweizhi published a historical novel full of resentment against alien rule and patriotic enthusiasm.The novel occupies an important place in Schenkwij's creation and in Polish literature as a whole.On November 14, 1916, Xianke Weizhi died of illness.He left behind many literary works and was a talented writer of historical fiction.

It reflects a glorious history in which Poland and Lithuania jointly resisted the aggression of the Teutonic Knights from the end of the fourteenth century to the beginning of the fifteenth century and achieved a historic victory in the Battle of Grunwald. The Polish state was formed between the ninth and tenth centuries.The Principality of Poland at that time recognized Germany as suzerain.During the reign of Boleslav, the Polish state became strong, expanded its territory at the beginning of the eleventh century, unified Poland, and got rid of its dependence on the German emperor.At the beginning of the twelfth century, Boleslav III entrusted the kingdom to several of his sons, forming a feudal separatist situation.After the death of Boleslav III, the German feudal lord launched an invasion of Poland and occupied the Pomeranian area.In 1226, in order to occupy the land of the Prussians, Grand Duke Conrad of the Principality of Masovia in Poland decided to introduce the Teutonic Knights established during the Crusades into Poland and entrusted the Knights to occupy Prussia.The Knights of the Crusaders occupied Prussia and forced the local residents to farm for them like slaves. At the same time, they introduced German immigrants and established many towns and villages. As a result, the areas occupied by the Knights were gradually Germanized.At the end of the thirteenth century, the Knights of the Crusaders consolidated their occupied areas, established their own country, did not recognize the leadership of the Polish princes, and coveted Polish land.The emergence of a powerful German military state organization in western and northern Poland was a serious threat to Polish independence.At the beginning of the 14th century, Grand Duke Vladislav I of Kuyavia fought for the unification of Poland. In 1320, he restored the title of king and established his capital in Krakow, ending the feudal separatism of Poland.In 1370, the Polish throne passed to King Louis of Hungary.In order to maintain his own rule, Louis promulgated the "Kosice Special Code" in 1374, which stipulated a series of privileges for Polish nobles, but in exchange, it also stipulated that one of Louis' daughters would be Queen of Poland in the future.Two years after Louis' death, according to the provisions of the "Kosice Special Code", Jadwiga, Louis' youngest daughter, inherited the Polish throne.At this time Poland was still under the threat of the Crusader Knights, and the northwestern part of Lithuania was also seriously threatened by the Crusader Knights.The Crusader Teutonic Knights longed to join the Knights of the Sword territorially.At that time the Knights of the Sword occupied Latvia, and the two knights attempted to occupy the Lithuanian territory that separated them, especially the area inhabited by the Zemuds, in order to establish a powerful and unified knightly state in the Baltic Sea.A common enemy unites Poland and Lithuania.In 1385, the Polish nobles and Lithuanian Grand Duke Achail signed a treaty in Krewa. According to this treaty, Achail came to Poland in 1386, married Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland. Merge with Lithuania in order to jointly deal with the aggression of the Crusader Knights and regain lost ground.In 1410, due to the advance of the Knights, the war between Poland and Lithuania against the Knights of the Crusaders finally broke out.The two sides fought at Grunwald.As a result of the battle, Poland and Lithuania achieved brilliant victories in the war against aggression, and the Crusader Knights were almost wiped out.The Battle of Grunwald completely destroyed the power of the Knights of the Crusaders, and stopped the Knights from aggressing the Polish and Lithuanian lands along the Baltic Sea.This battle is a glorious page in Polish history and is of symbolic significance among the Polish people.

To a certain extent, Xiankeweizhi truly reproduces this glorious history of Poland.Through plots such as the protagonist Zbyszko's escape from the Teutonic Knights and the tragic experience of Jurand's father and daughter, it effectively exposes the Teutonic Knights' despotism, cruelty and tyranny in the cloak of religion. The crimes of trampling on the dignity of the Polish nation arbitrarily, killing the lives of the Polish people, and plundering the wealth of the Polish people made readers feel indignant at the atrocities committed by the Teutonic Knights and sympathized with the resistance of the Polish people.

Out of national hatred and youthful ignorance, Zbyszko mistakenly challenged the messengers of the Knights, and was almost murdered by the Knights. This plot is the first climax of this book exposing the crimes of the Knights.Through this plot, the author for the first time concretely exposed to us the cruel and arrogant face of the knights who ignored the dignity of the Polish nation. With great national hatred, Zbyszko vowed to remove the three tufts of peacock feathers from the Teutonic Knights to avenge Danusia's mother. Hertenstein.Although his attack was stopped by the famous Polish knight Povara who escorted Lichtenstein, and did not hurt Lichtenstein, Zbyszko's uncle Macko immediately apologized to Lichtenstein , asking him to forgive the child's rudeness, Povara also interceded with Lichtenstein, but Lichtenstein was extremely arrogant, trying to insult the personality of the Polish knight as a condition for pardoning Zbyszko.When he arrived in Krakow, Lichtenstein complained to the King of Poland again. Despite the intercession of the two duchesses and many famous Polish nobles, Lichtenstein insisted on putting Zbyszko to death.Lichtenstein ravaged a neighboring country with arrogance beyond measure, and he ignored the existence of the Polish state.The whole of Poland hates this. If Danusia hadn't stepped forward at a critical moment and saved Zbyszko in time, Zbyszko would not have been able to escape Lichtenstein's murderous hands.It was this villainy of the Teutonic Knights that led to the Great Battle of Grunwald in 1410.Maczko and Zbyszko's vow to fight Lichtenstein is a reflection of the fact that the national conflict between the Polish nation and the Crusader Knights has developed into an irreconcilable situation.

Then, the author further exposes the unfaithful and poisonous nature of the Crusader Knights through the murder of Jurand's father and daughter.Jurand's wife died when the Knights of the Crusades treacherously attacked Masovia. Jurand had a mortal hatred for the Knights of the Crusades, and his struggle against the Knights of the Crusaders was just.But his blow to the Knights made him a thorn in the side of the Knights. The crusader knights such as Siegfried and Dunwiert finally designed to rob his daughter Danusia from the court of Masovia, and demanded that Juren He went to Sztno himself to fetch his daughter back, promising to return Danusia at Sztno if Jurand returned the captive and sent a ransom.But when Jurand arrived in Szytno, not only did he not find his daughter, but he was also abused in every way. In the end, Siegfried cut off his tongue, scalded his eyes, chopped off his arm, and drove him out.Although Zbyszko went through all kinds of hardships, he finally found Danusia, but the retrieved Danusia was persecuted to the point of insanity and dying, and died on the way before reaching home.Jurand, such a famous knight, was subjected to such insults, with such tragic results; Danusia, such a good girl, her happy marriage and happy life with Zbyszko were so tragically ruined. and destruction.Who destroyed the peaceful life of the Polish people?Who made such a tragedy as Jurand's father and daughter?None other than the Crusader Knights!Through this plot, the author further exposes the criminal acts of the Knights of the Crusades, such as arbitrarily abusing the Polish people and rampaging on Polish land, with his touching handwriting.The author's accusation against the Crusader knights becomes stronger and stronger step by step with the development of the plot.These accusations bring the novel's revelation of the Knights to a new climax.The experience of Zbyszko and Jurand's father and daughter is a microcosm of the Polish nation being oppressed and ravaged by the Crusader knights.

In addition to using the encounters of Zbyszko and Jurand's father and daughter to focus on and vividly expose the aggression crimes of the Crusader Knights, the author also directly describes or mentions the Crusader Knights' actions against the people of Poland and Lithuania in many places. The oppression and mutilation of these descriptions as Zbyszko.The background of the tragic experience of Jurand and his daughter makes the two closely echoed, which further shows that the encounters of Zbyszko and Jurand are not accidental, not isolated, not personal, but The entire Polish nation.Part of the Lithuanian nation suffered from the invasion of the Crusaders.This kind of combination of point and surface, not only powerfully depicts the vivid and prominent image, but also lightly sketches the broad background, so that the events narrated by the author in the novel have a typical meaning, so that we can comprehensively and concretely see the story. Seeing the bloody crimes committed by the Knights of the Crusaders against Poland, Lithuania and other nations, we can see that the Knights of the Crusaders are indeed the worst enemy of the Polish people and the sworn enemy of the Polish people.

The novel ends with a description of the Great War of Grunwald.Poland and Lithuania joined forces to fight against the aggression against the enemy, and achieved a brilliant victory; and Maczko and Zbyszko finally found their enemy Lichtenstein and avenged them.This is the logical ending of the whole novel, doing justice for the people of Poland and Lithuania.The novel truly expresses the hatred and patriotic enthusiasm of the Polish and Lithuanian people towards the enemy, and describes their heroic battles and the disastrous defeat of the enemy.The reason why Xiankeweizhi won the respect and love of the Polish people is precisely because he was full of patriotic enthusiasm, expressed the wishes and will of the people, and praised the just struggle of the motherland.Rather, it can be said to be a monument to the major historical event of the Battle of Grunwald.

Novels also have many artistic features.The author is good at using the technique of "suspense". He often raises a question, but does not solve it for a long time. Therefore, readers cannot predict the ending of the story, so they have to closely follow the author's euphemistic and detailed description, and read the story in one breath.This approach is fascinating.The author's narration is also well-proportioned, smooth and natural.The whole novel is like a clear stream, which sometimes boils and turbulent among the chaotic rocks, sometimes jumps and rushes in the winding canyons, and sometimes flows slowly on the flat sandy beach. When writing a novel, I don't feel long and boring, but follow the ups and downs of the plot and enter the realm arranged by the author.In the novel, the author also extensively described the life of the Polish people from the 14th to the 15th centuries in colorful style.The castles in the Polish aristocratic territory, the customs and habits of the Polish people, and the knight system in the Middle Ages are all vividly reproduced in the author's pen.Episodes such as Zbyszko squeezing fresh twigs out of juice with his hands, and Povara rolling up a steel knife with his bare hands like parchment at a knight's banquet are legendary.The characters written by the author are very personal.The heroic and fearless Zbyszko, the shrewd, prudent, courageous Macko, the simple, beautiful Danusia, and the enthusiastic, bold, lively and lovely Jagienka are all characters portrayed by the author with care.Even some secondary characters have different appearances and characters, such as Halava's loyalty and vigilance, Sandros's adaptability, and De Rausch's integrity and forthrightness. .The personalities of these characters have their own characteristics, and readers will never confuse them.

When the author wrote this work, it was the second half of the nineteenth century when Poland was partitioned, and occupying powers such as Prussia and Tsarist Russia stepped up their joint actions in an attempt to eliminate the Polish nation.In the Prussian occupied area, the occupiers implemented a policy of Germanization, expelled Poles who were not German subjects, canceled the Polish language in schools, intensified the persecution of Polish newspapers, brutally suppressed the Polish people who dared to resist, and distorted history. Praise the Teutonic Knights for opening the way for German domination.A similar de-Polandization policy was also pursued in the Russian-occupied areas.Therefore, the ethnic conflict between the Polish nation and the occupiers was extremely sharp, and the Polish people fought bravely and fiercely against the foreign occupiers in various forms.Under such historical conditions, it is obviously impossible for the author to directly write works against foreign occupiers, so he found a genre of historical novels, using the past as a reference to the present, to expose the bloody rule of the foreign occupiers over the Polish nation. Inspire the people to rise up against foreign occupiers.Works like this played a positive role in inspiring the people's fighting spirit under the historical conditions at that time.Historical events such as the victory at the Battle of Grunwald undoubtedly greatly inspired the Polish people in their struggle against the invaders.The author uses examples of the victories in the history of the Polish people to inspire his compatriots and strengthen their confidence in winning the victory.The publication of the novel was of great practical significance at the time.

Poland is a nation full of disasters in history, it has been constantly invaded and oppressed by foreign nations.In particular, the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the fifteenth century, the partition of Poland by Prussia, Austria, and Tsarist Russia in the eighteenth century, and the German fascist occupation during World War II all brought great pain and suffering to the Polish people. disaster.But the Polish people are a heroic people. The great revolutionary mentor Engels once pointed out: "The words 'Poles' and 'revolutionaries' have become synonymous." Stand up and unite as one to resist foreign aggression; under occupation, they continue to hold uprisings to fight against foreign invaders and strive for national liberation and unity.The glorious victory of the Battle of Grunwald will definitely continue to inspire the patriotic enthusiasm of the Polish people, and they will continue to strive to defend national independence and national sovereignty and build their own beautiful country.

Feng Chun June 1998