Library #33: QUO VADIS
Announcing the Library book for March-April 2025
Castalia Library is pleased to announce that the March-April subscription book will be QUO VADIS: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz. QUO VADIS will be the 33rd book in the Castalia Library series and print runs of 700 for the Library edition and 75 for the Libraria edition are anticipated.
The novel Quo Vadis tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Lygia, and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician. It takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero, c. AD 64.
Sienkiewicz studied the Roman Empire extensively before writing the novel, with the aim of getting historical details correct. Consequently, several historical figures appear in the book. As a whole, the novel carries a pro-Christian message.
It was first published in installments in the Gazeta Polska between 26 March 1895 and 29 February 1896, as well as in two other journals, Czas and Dziennik Poznański It was first published in book form in 1896 and has been translated into more than 50 languages. The novel contributed to Sienkiewicz's Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905.
As previously announced, the JAN-MAR Castalia History book is Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Gaius Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars.
The JAN-JUN Castalia Cathedra book is The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton.
"Quo Vadis?" was adapted for film by MGM in the early 1950s.