In Desert and Wilderness

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In Desert and Wilderness
In Desert and Wilderness book cover
Author	Henryk Sienkiewicz
Original title	W pustyni i w puszczy
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Genre(s)	Young adult novel
Publication date	1912

This is an article about the novel. For a film based on it, see In Desert and Wilderness (film).

In Desert and Wilderness (Polish: W pustyni i w puszczy) is a popular novel for young people by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, written in 1912 (it is in fact the author's only novel written for children). It is the story of two kids, Staś Tarkowski and Nel Rawlinson, kidnapped by the rebels during Mahdi's rebellion in Sudan. It was filmed twice, in 1973 and in 2001.

1 Publication history
2 Plot and characters
3 Film Adaptation
4 Other Polish children books related to Africa
5 External links

[edit] Publication history

In 1961, Marian Brandys published Śladami Stasia i Nel (Following the path of Staś and Nel) and, in 1962 a related Z Panem Biegankiem w Abisynii (In Abyssinia with Mister Bieganek).

Władysław Ślesicki, the director of the 1973 movie released a book, Z Tomkiem i Moniką w pustyni i w puszczy (In Desert and Wilderness with Tomek and Monika).

In 1993, Wojciech Sambory (a pen name for a writing team) wrote Powrót do Afryki (A Return to Africa), as a sequel to the novel (published by Reporter-Oficyna Wydawnicza, ISBN 83-85189-54-8).

Comic-strip Nowe przygody Stasia i Nel (The New Adventures of Staś and Nel) from Piechur weekly magazine is another sequel to Sienkiewicz's novel. It was published online on Retrostacja in 2005.

[edit] Plot and characters

Staś and Nel live in Port Said, where their parents are engineers working on the Suez Canal. In the meantime, an anti-British rebellion begins in Sudan under Muhammad Ahmad. Staś and Nel are captured as hostages, but eventually they escape from the captivity. Helped by some African natives they are eventually rescued by a British expedition and return to their family.

Although the novel is fictional (apart from the historical events), it was inspired by real events. A Polish boy was indeed kidnapped at those times, but has never been found. An inspiration for Nel's character was the daughter of Sienkiewicz's friend.

Heroes:

Nel Rawlison - 8-year old British girl
Stanisław Tarkowski-14-year old Polish boy
Kali - African boy and friend of the two

Interestingly, Kali, although not a main character per se, is likely even more famous than the main heroes, as a popular saying in Poland was coined around the so-called Kali's morality: If somebody takes Kali's cow, it's a bad deed. If Kali takes somebody's cow, it's a good deed.

[edit] Film Adaptation

Main article: In Desert and Wilderness (film)

The first movie version was directed by Władysław Ślesicki in 1973. It lasts about 3 hours, and is composed of 2 parts which were shown separately in theaters. It was released in 1973, but work on it started in 1971. The movie was filmed in Egypt, Sudan and Bulgaria, with an international cast and crew.

The 2001 version was directed by Gavin Hood and wrapped up in only about three months. It was filmed in South Africa, Tunisia and Namibia. The original director fell ill at the very beginning of filming and his role was taken by Hood.

A mini-series were made at the same time this time as well.