The world of French literature begins to close all the doors to Gabriel Matzneff, the writer pointed to by child abuse since the publication, last week, of the book Le Consentement (consent), where Vanessa Springora recounts the sexual relationship that remained in the mid-1980s with the author when she was 50 years old and she just 14. The prestigious publishing house Gallimard, a reference of literary publications galas, has announced on Tuesday its decision to discontinue the marketing of the journals of the writer, today 83 years old. It is not just stop printing: Gallimard, in a decision that the publisher describes as “exceptional”, also remove the copies that are still in the bookstores. The announcement has coincided with the confirmation of the Ministry of Culture that Matzneff will, in all probability, perceive public funding granted to French authors with economic problems that benefited from almost two decades ago. We will also review the awards received throughout his career.
“The suffering expressed by Vanessa Springora in The consent (…) justifies this exceptional measure,” he said in a statement Gallimard, which published the diaries of Matzneff since 1990. In addition, the prestigious publisher will be removed from the libraries copies are still exposed, including the last volume, the lover of The Arsenal, published in November. According to a source in Gallimard to the Agency France Presse, this is the first time that the publisher takes such action.
The decision is known a few days after the publication of the book of Springora, that in addition to a jolt to the society in full wave #Me Too, is shaking strongly the world of letters in French. For the first time this has been confronted with this book at your laxity for decades before this author who never hid his sexual preferences for children, who are in fact detailed thoroughly in the good part of his works, including the essay of 1974 —and re-released in 2005— Les Moins de Seize ans (under 16 years). He also talked openly in interviews televised during the 80’s and even 90’s. Matzneff received even in 2013 a prestigious award, the prix Renaudot, a decision that now one of the members of the jury that awarded it, the writer Frédéric beigbeder is joined, referred to as “clumsy”.
“If sexual relations between an adult and an adolescent under 15 years of age are illegal, why is this tolerance when this act is committed by the representative of the elite —a photographer, writer, filmmaker, painter?”, questions in his book Springora. “Beyond the artists, with only the cures we have witnessed such impunity”, he adds. Gallimard published, among others, The prunelle de mes yeux ” (The girl of my eyes), the book in which Matzneff was, in 1993, his own vision of his relationship with Springora. Is dedicated to Christophe Girard, the current deputy mayor for Culture of Paris, under the mandate of the socialist, Anne Hidalgo, and that was according to the press who recommended he be given a state financial aid to the writer since 2002.
Despite the facts, at least in the case of the author, have already prescribed, the last Friday, 24 hours after the departure to the sale of Le Consentement, the office of the prosecutor announced the opening of a preliminary investigation for “violation of a minor of 15 years” on the basis of the revelations of Springora and pledged to try to “identify all the other potential victims who may have suffered violations of the same nature on the national territory or abroad.” The Journal du Dimanche (JDD) reported Sunday that the blog that a “fan” and friend of Matzneff maintained on the Internet and in which for years published details of their “conquests”, with photos that showed the extreme youth of several of their “lovers”, was abolished on the 30th of December. The removal occurred a few days before the appearance of the book of Springora, who complains in this precisely not to have been able to avoid judicially that Matzneff published on the Internet photos of him because this is escudaba in that it was not he who kept the web.
The decision of Gallimard met just moments before the minister of Culture, Franck Riester, announced that a commission will review the state financial aid that you receive Matzneff since 2002 and awarded the National Book Centre (CNL) to authors who have made a major contribution to French literature and pass in spite of this economic troubles. That help, that in the case of Matzneff sum in the last 18 years, according to the JDD, 160.000 euros, “is not justified”, said the minister. “Does the lord Matzneff, by the autobiographical nature of their stories, with their writings to the reputation of French literature, becoming the singer of pedophilia? I think not. What is the train of life splendorous described in his books justifies him a help as well? I also believe that not”, said Riester, who also announced that they will propose that we re-examine the decorations received by Matzneff, which since 1995 is an officer of Arts and Letters and knight of the national Order of merit since 1998.
