Digital collection Postmodern Sienkiewicz (http://nplp.pl/en/kolekcja/postmodern-sienkiewicz/) on New Panorama of Polish Literature platform was planned to be innovative in two aspects:
1) Scholarly content shows several new approaches to work and biography of Henryk Sienkiewicz (one of the most important Polish writers of all time, Nobel prize winner, known all over the Europe as an author of Quo vadis novel). These approaches include,
among others, analysis of spatial aspects of writers journeys to America and Africa, some gender perspective on his novels and its connections to political theology and visual art.
2) Digital collection uses not only great number of visuals connected to articles and their fragments, but also the space of palace in Oblęgorek - high quality photos of front and back of palace, its rooms, items and paintings – to invent new ways of disseminating scholarly content and immersing users into life and work of Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Palace in Oblęgorek - today Museum of Henryk Sienkiewicz - was bough and redecorated for the writer between 1900 and 1902, using donations collected by the nation. Although It wasn’t the “writers residence” in traditional meaning of term (Sienkiewicz lived there mostly only during summer months until he left Poland in 1914) but it is a very interesting example of building telling its own story. The extremely eclectic exterior was clearly made to fit the writers picture from nations imagination (including references to his books) while interiors were decorated by Sienkiewicz himself.
In my presentation methods of using interiors and exteriors of palace in Oblęgorek to tell scholarly story on Henryk Sienkiewicz and his work will be discussed, focusing on specific aspects of creating this digital collection such as:
1) how photos of items and painting were chosen and prepared to match topics of articles and their fragments
2) how narrative mechanics based on palace exteriors are connected to whole concept of Postmodern Sienkiewicz collection
3) how real spaces were prepared and modified in digital version to fit narrative and scholarly purposes of the collection.
Key words: writers residence, digital storytelling, Henryk Sienkiewicz