HHhH is intercut with sections detailing his endless anxieties about the subtle falsifications of history in the historical fiction genre and about poetic license generally. Though I do wonder if I’d have felt that sting if Binet had been an English-language novelist: Given that the discussion below is negative, I may be manifesting a subconscious sense of territoriality so Monsieur Binet, if you are reading this, congratulations on your success, and feel free to dismiss me as a jealous unknown.Īs far as my conscious mind goes, the only one I can vouch for, really, my conscious mind was thinking: “Here’s a writer with an identical obsession! Another guy who can’t stop reading about Heydrich and Anthropoid! Are there others out there? Are we a secret society? If we aren’t, should we form one? I can’t wait to see how he put the history to dramatic use!” I could feel interest and kinship without professional competition. This huge distance beween our projects was a good thing. I had a personal interest in the novel: I am currently writing a novel in which Heydrich plays a major role, though it’s not quite, er, the same beast (hint: werewolves!). This book concerns Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate the Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. I sought out with immense eagerness the English translation of Laurent Binet’s Prix-Goncourt-winning novel, HHhH.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |