12 h 55 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A ruined castle divides two families, while love stirs at the manor and Napoleon’s army marches east.
Tadeusz Soplica returns from school to Soplicowo, a manor among Lithuania’s forests and farmland. His uncle, the Judge, welcomes guests and hopes for peace. But the Soplicas and Horeszkos still quarrel over a ruined castle, and the young man finds love and trouble close at hand.
In Pan Tadeusz, Adam Mickiewicz turns dinners, hunts and courtship into a portrait of a homeland remembered from exile. Set in 1811 and 1812, this verse epic follows private grudges as war draws near. Telimena, Zosia, the Count and the castle keeper Gerwazy bring different desires into a world shaped by honour and tradition.
What you’ll discover
- A home alive with detail Enter crowded dinners, gardens and farmland, where daily customs reveal a whole way of life.
- Love among old grudges Follow Tadeusz into a household where romance shares space with a stubborn family feud.
- The hunt and its quarrels Join a gathering meant to unite neighbours, where disputes over honour sharpen the divide.
- Humour beside pride Meet small nobles who farm their own plots, carrying swords, coats of arms and little money.
- The ache of homeland Discover how remembered fields and familiar rituals give shape to the poet’s longing for home.
Who will love it
For readers who love stories told with warmth, humour and rich detail of country life, and anyone curious about Polish and Lithuanian history.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lost country seen from exile
- A young man comes home
- A ruined castle and a family feud
- Dinners, mushrooms and the art of the hunt
- Telimena, the Count and the games of love
- A quarrel that splits the district
- The petty nobles gather for a council
- What the poem says about home and nation
- How the poem is told
Who’s who
- Tadeusz SoplicaA warm, hot-headed young man who comes home from school in Vilnius to his uncle's manor and finds love and trouble waiting.
- The JudgeTadeusz's uncle and master of Soplicowo, a generous host who wants peace in the district and an end to the lawsuit over the castle.
- TelimenaA lively, worldly lady staying at the manor, who enjoys the attention of the men around her and knows how to use it.
- ZosiaA fresh, quiet young girl in Telimena's care who loves her garden and her birds and whose gentle presence matters more than she knows.
- GerwazyThe old keeper of the Horeszko castle, fiercely loyal to his dead master, who carries the keys and a sword called the Penknife.
- The CountA fashionable young heir of the Horeszko line, fond of grand gestures, who wants the castle back by law or by force.
- The WojskiAn older relative and hunter, keeper of manners and old stories, who leads the hunt and blows the horn.
- The friar RobakA mysterious, solitary friar who moves through the district giving counsel and watching events with an air of hidden purpose.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 12 h 55 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Pan Tadeusz oder Der letzte Ausfall in Litauen
by Adam Mickiewicz · 1834
Tadeusz returns to Soplicowo, where love and a feud over a ruined castle await as Napoleon's army marches east.
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In short
Pan Tadeusz is a long poem in twelve books by Adam Mickiewicz, the national poet of Poland. He wrote it in Paris in the early 1830s, and it was published there in 1834.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A lost country seen from exile
Pan Tadeusz begins with a longing. The poet is far from home, and he calls up the landscape of his youth as if he could walk through it again. He pictures meadows painted with many kinds of grain, wild pear trees growing on the balks between fields, and the white manor house among poplars. The first lines are an address to the homeland itself, and the tone is that of a man who has lost something he cannot get back.
The time of the story matters. It is 1811 and 1812, when the old Polish Commonwealth has already been divided up and Lithuania lives under Russian rule. Many Poles still hope that Napoleon, who has set up a small Polish state called the Duchy of Warsaw, will march east and free them. The poem is full of rumours, soldiers passing through and quiet talk of this hope. A reader feels that the peaceful countryside is waiting for something.
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What is Pan Tadeusz about?
It is a poem about two noble families in Lithuania in 1811 and 1812, who feud over a ruined castle while a young man, Tadeusz, returns home and falls in love. It also pictures old Polish country life.
Why is Pan Tadeusz so important to Poland?
It was written by an exile after Poland had disappeared from the map, and it preserves the customs, landscape and spirit of the old country. Many Poles learn it at school and regard it as their national epic.
When was Pan Tadeusz written and is it a true story?
Mickiewicz wrote it in Paris in the early 1830s, and it appeared in 1834. The story is invented, but the setting, customs and the political mood of 1811 and 1812 are drawn from real history.
The author
Adam Mickiewicz
1798–1855 · Polish Romantic poet
Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, and political activist. He was born near Nowogródek, then in the Russian Empire, and lived in Russia before settling in Paris in 1832. He wrote Pan Tadeusz, published in 1834, and the drama Dziady. He died in Constantinople.
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