{{about|the 2010 novel|its film adaptation|The Man with the Iron Heart (film)}} {{redirect-distinguish|HHHH|4H (disambiguation){{!}}4H|H4 (disambiguation){{!}}H4}} {{short description|French novel by Laurent Binet}} {{Infobox book | name = HHhH | title_orig = | translator = Sam Taylor | image = HHhH bookcover.jpg | caption = English language hardcover edition | author = Laurent Binet | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = France | language = French | series = | subject = | genre = Historical fiction | publisher = Grasset & Fasquelle | pub_date = 2010 | english_pub_date = 2012 | media_type = Print | pages = 440 | isbn = 978-2-246-76001-6 | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}
'''''HHhH''''' is the debut novel of French author Laurent Binet, published in 2010 by Grasset & Fasquelle. The book is a metafictional novel depicting Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during World War II, along with the writing of the novel. The novel was awarded the 2010 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman.<ref name="Le Monde">{{cite news|title=Le prix Goncourt du premier roman attribué à Laurent Binet pour HHhH.|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2010/03/02/le-prix-goncourt-du-premier-roman-attribue-a-laurent-binet-pour-hhhh_1313450_3246.html|access-date=17 October 2010|newspaper=Le Monde|date=2 March 2010}}</ref>
==Plot== 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.<ref name="Le Monde" /><ref name="Express">{{cite news|last=Riglet|first=Marc|title=HHhH, entre "je" et "nous"|url=http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/hhhh-entre-je-et-nous_889459.html|access-date=17 October 2010|newspaper=L'Express|date=7 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="Le Temps">{{cite news|last=Sulser|first=Eleonore|title=Heydrich en personnage de papier|url=http://www.letemps.ch/Facet/print/Uuid/5a8738e2-181e-11df-8d33-be76184ebd58/Heydrich_en_personnage_de_papier|access-date=17 October 2010|newspaper=Le Temps|date=13 February 2010}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
The novel's editor 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.<ref name="L'histoire">{{cite news|title=L'histoire de HHhH|url=http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/indiscrets/l-histoire-de-hhhh_882362.html|access-date=17 October 2010|newspaper=L'Express|date=6 April 2010}}</ref> ''The Millions'' published the "missing pages" in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|title=Exclusive: The Missing Pages of Laurent Binet's HHhH|url=http://www.themillions.com/2012/04/exclusive-the-missing-pages-of-laurent-binets-hhhh.html|access-date=1 May 2012|newspaper=The Millions|date=16 April 2012}}</ref>
==Title== The title is an initialism for ''Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich'' ("Himmler's brain is called Heydrich"), a quip about Heydrich in SS circles.<ref>Binet, L. ''HHhH'', chapter 108.</ref> The title was suggested by Binet's publisher, Grasset, instead of the "too sci-fi" working title ''Opération Anthropoïde''.
==Translations== ''HHhH'' was written in French and has been translated into more than twenty languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/11/its-okay-to-mistake-the-author-and-the-narrator/ |title=It's Okay to Mistake the Author and the Narrator |last=Nawotka |first=Edward |date=25 November 2013 |website=Publishing Perspectives |access-date=29 November 2017 }}</ref> 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== {{main|HHhH (film)}} Cédric Jimenez directed an English-language film adaptation of the novel, released in the United States as ''The Man with the Iron Heart''. It starred Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Mia Wasikowska, Jack O'Connell and Jack Reynor.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/cannes-jason-clarke-rosamund-pike-jack-oconnell-join-wwii-set-drama-hhhh-exclusive-1201488787/ |title=Cannes: Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Jack O'Connell Join WWII-Set Drama 'HHHH' (EXCLUSIVE) |date=7 May 2015|work=Variety}}</ref>
Dutch public broadcaster VPRO produced a documentary television series adaption in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Himmlers hersens heten Heydrich |url=https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/hhhh.html |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=VPRO |language=nl}}</ref>
==Awards and honours== *2010 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman<ref name="Le Monde"/> *2011 Europese Literatuurprijs, shortlist *2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, finalist<ref>{{cite web |url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/national-book-critics-circle-names-2012-award-finalists/ |title=National Book Critics Circle Names 2012 Award Finalists |work=New York Times |author=John Williams |date=January 14, 2012 |access-date=January 15, 2013}}</ref> *2012 ''New York Times'' Notable Book of the Year
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:HHhH}} Category:Novels set in 1942 Category:2010 French novels Category:French historical novels Category:Heinrich Himmler Category:French novels adapted into films Category:Non-fiction novels Category:Novels about Czech resistance to Nazi occupation Category:Novels set in Prague Category:Reinhard Heydrich Category:Works about Operation Anthropoid Category:Novels set during World War II Category:2010 debut novels Category:Metafictional novels Category:French war novels