“Death threats” addressed to the staff of a publishing house which intended to publish Gabriel Matzneff, targeted by an investigation for rape of a minor, pushed back this publisher of the “identity right” on Monday. Editions de la Nouvelle Librairie had planned to publish on November 8 Last writings before the massacrea collection of articles written between 2015 and 2019 by Gabriel Matzneff, 86 years old.
This publishing house, attached to the bookstore of the same name in the Latin Quarter in Paris, defines itself as “hussar” in literature and “of the identity right, patriot” in politics. “Gabriel Matzneff, as we know, no longer had any publisher (…) Through mutual friends, this book arrived at our house. And we would not have wanted it if he had praised pedophilia, ”explained the general manager of this publishing house, François Bousquet, on Thursday.
Vandalism, threats and freedom of expression
The announcement provoked many indignant reactions and questions about the advisability of contributing to the dissemination of the ideas of a now banned author. This Monday, the editions of the New Bookstore indicated that they had to give up until further notice. “We find ourselves in the obligation to postpone sine die the publication” of this title, they wrote in a press release.
“Some reactions are totally out of proportion. At a time when freedom of expression is receding dangerously, the Nouvelle Librairie intends to guarantee it. However, it cannot accept serious death threats addressed to its staff, whom it must protect,” they added, without reporting a complaint.
Claiming to have already been the target of acts of vandalism, the bookstore explained that “now, these damages are coupled with a real danger”, and that it had taken this decision “for the physical safety of [ses] employees “.
Right of reply
The writings collected in this book predated the publication in January 2020 of the story The consent of Vanessa Springora, who had caused the scandal to burst and prompted the Paris prosecutor’s office to immediately open an investigation for the rape of a 15-year-old minor. The author told how she had been seduced in the 1980s by the novelist when she was not 14 and he was nearly 50. Despite the means deployed to find facts not covered by the prescription, the investigation is likely to result in a dismissal, for lack of being able to identify at least one recent victim of Gabriel Matzneff.
This author had publicly professed in the 1970s and 1980s his taste for sexual relations with minors. He then lived in a certain anonymity, and sold very few copies of his most recent works, even if it remained published until 2019 by Gallimard. The Renaudot prize for the essay was awarded to him in 2013 for “Séraphin, c’est la fin!”, a collection similar to “Last writings before the massacre”.
In 2020, The consent urged all his publishers to withdraw his books from sale. He was also deprived of aid from the National Book Center intended for low-income writers despite their contribution to the influence of French literature, which he had been receiving since 2002. In 2021, it is through the auto -edition that he had been able to publish a response to Vanessa Springora, vanessaviruswhich could only be purchased by private subscription.