![]() English language hardcover edition | |
Author | Laurent Binet |
---|---|
Translator | Sam Taylor |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Publisher | Grasset & Fasquelle |
Publication date | 2010 |
Published in English | 2012 |
Media type | |
Pages | 440 |
ISBN | 978-2-246-76001-6 |
HHhH is the debut novel of French author Laurent Binet, published in 2010 by Grasset & Fasquelle. The book recounts 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]
The novel follows the history of the operation and the lives of its protagonists—Reinhard Heydrich and his assassins Jozef Gabčík and 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]
The title is an initialism for Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich ("Himmler's brain is called Heydrich"), a quip about Heydrich in SS circles. [4] The title was suggested by Binet's publisher, Grasset, instead of the "too 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]
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.
Cédric Jimenez directed a film adaptation of the novel, also known as The Man with the Iron Heart. It starred Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Mia Wasikowska, Jack O'Connell and Jack Reynor. [8]
Dutch public broadcaster VPRO produced a documentary television series adaption in 2017. [9]
The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but results in considerable recognition and book sales for the winning author. Four other prizes are also awarded: prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle, prix Goncourt de la Poésie (poetry) and prix Goncourt de la Biographie (biography). Of the "big six" French literary awards, the Prix Goncourt is the best known and most prestigious. The other major literary prizes include the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, the Prix Femina, the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallié and the Prix Médicis.
The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot is a French literary award.
Léonora Miano is a Cameroonian author.
Éditions Grasset is a French publishing house founded in 1907 by Bernard Grasset (1881–1955). Grasset publishes French and foreign literature, essays, novels and children's books, among others.
Patrick Rambaud is a French writer.
Edmonde Charles-Roux was a French writer.
Laurent Binet is a French writer and university lecturer. His work focuses on the modern political scene in France.
The Grand prix des lectrices de Elle is a French literary prize awarded by readers of Elle magazine.
Cédric Jimenez is a French film producer, film director and screenwriter.
Les Bêtises is a 1971 novel by the French writer Jacques Laurent. It recounts 47 years in the life of an adventurous and well-travelled man, in the forms of his own notes, diary entries, an unfinished novel and comments, collected by a friend after the man's death. Laurent wrote the novel over a period of 22 years.
The Man with the Iron Heart is a 2017 biographical action-thriller film directed by Cédric Jimenez and written by David Farr, Audrey Diwan, and Jimenez. An English-language French-Belgian production, it is based on French writer Laurent Binet's 2010 novel HHhH, and focuses on Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during World War II.
Dramatic portrayals of Reinhard Heydrich number among the more numerous of any Second World War figure, comparable to Adolf Hitler as well as war films depicting Erwin Rommel. Reinhard Heydrich has been portrayed in both television and film, and was one of the few high ranking Nazis to be depicted in a dramatic film while the Second World War was still ongoing.
Yann Moix is a French author, film director and television presenter. He is the author of ten novels and the recipient of several literary prizes. He has directed three films. He was a columnist on On n'est pas couché.
Maurizio Serra is a contemporary Italian writer and diplomat. Maurizio Serra was Italian Ambassador to the Unesco. He writes in Italian and French. He received the Prix Goncourt de la Biographie in 2011 for his book Malaparte, vies et légendes, a biography on Curzio Malaparte. Serra was elected to the Académie Française on 9 January 2020.
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Simon Liberati is a French writer and journalist. For his novels, he has received the Prix de Flore (2009), Prix Femina (2011) and Prix Renaudot (2022).
Clara Dupont-Monod is a French journalist and woman of letters. She was awarded the Prix Femina in 2021.
Karine Tuil is a French novelist who has written several award-winning novels in French and English. Her works have themes ranging from marriage and Jewish identity to detention centers and corporate politics.
Olivier Guez is a French journalist, essayist and writer. He won the 2017 Prix Renaudot for his novel The Disappearance of Josef Mengele.