TY - JOUR N2 - This article examines Henryk Sienkiewicz’s proto-racist distinction between the gentry and the commoners in his novel With Fire and Sword (1883–1884). This division, which is believed to be part of the divine world order, credits the commoners with an inferior humanity. It is founded on a set of essentialist beliefs – that social class is inherited, that ‘noble blood’ confers superiority, and that physiognomy bespeaks high birth (you can tell a noblemen or noblewoman by their physical appearance). As the article claims, Sienkiewicz allows no room for a voice questioning those beliefs, let alone exposing their class-bound arbitrariness. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/113527/PDF-MASTER/RL%202-19%202-Rys.pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/113527 PY - 2019 IS - No 2 (353) EP - 173 DO - 10.24425/rl.2019.130034 KW - Polish literature of the 19th century KW - historical fiction KW - social class and race KW - the gentry mindset KW - the divine world order KW - proto-racism KW - Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) A1 - Ryś, Paweł Wiktor PB - Polska Akademia Nauk Oddział w Krakowie Komisja Historycznoliteracka PB - Uniwersytet Jagielloński Wydział Polonistyki DA - 2019.10.31 T1 - “We’ll see if noble blood runs through your veins”: Social classes and race in Henryk Sienkiewicz’s “With Fire and Sword” SP - 153 UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/113527 T2 - Ruch Literacki ER -