HHhH
HHhH is the
Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during World War II. The novel was awarded the 2010 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman.[1]
Plot
The novel follows the history of the operation and the lives of its protagonists—Reinhard Heydrich and his assassins
Jan Kubiš. It is interlaced with the author's account of the process of researching and writing the book, his commentary about other literary and media treatments of the subject, and reflections about the extent to which the behavior of real people may of necessity be fictionalised in a historical novel.[1][2][3]
Title
The title is an initialism for Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich ("
sci-fi" working title Opération Anthropoïde. The editor also requested the cut of about twenty pages criticizing Jonathan Littell's Les Bienveillantes, another novel about the SS in World War II that was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 2006.[5] The Millions published the "missing pages" in 2012.[6]
Translations
HHhH has been translated into more than twenty languages.[7] The English translation by Sam Taylor was published in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on 24 April 2012 and in the UK by Harvill Secker on 3 May 2012.
Film adaptation
Dutch public broadcaster VPRO produced a documentary television series adaption in 2017.[9]
Awards and honours
- 2010 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman[1]
- 2011 Europese Literatuurprijs, shortlist
- 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, finalist[10]
- 2012 New York Times Notable Book of the Year
References
- ^ a b c "Le prix Goncourt du premier roman attribué à Laurent Binet pour HHhH". Le Monde. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
- L'Express. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
- ^ Sulser, Eleonore (13 February 2010). "Heydrich en personnage de papier". Le Temps. Retrieved 17 October 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Binet, L. HHhH, chapter 108.
- ^ "L'histoire de HHhH". L'Express. 6 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
- ^ "Exclusive: The Missing Pages of Laurent Binet's HHhH". The Millions. 16 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
- ^ Nawotka, Edward (25 November 2013). "It's Okay to Mistake the Author and the Narrator". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "Cannes: Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Jack O'Connell Join WWII-Set Drama 'HHHH' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 7 May 2015.
- ^ "Himmlers hersens heten Heydrich". VPRO (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2013.