New book by Gabriel Matzneff | “Death threats” set back editions of the New Bookstore

(Paris) “Death threats” addressed to the staff of a French publishing house which intended to publish Gabriel Matzneff, an author under investigation for rape of a minor, led this publisher of the “identity right” to give up for the moment.

Gabriel Matzneff had publicly expressed in the 1970s and 1980s his taste for sexual relations with minors, notably in his book Under Sixteen. It is now banned by traditional publishing houses.

But the editions of the New Library, which define themselves as “hussar” in literature and “of the identity right, patriot” in politics, had planned to publish on November 8 Last writings before the massacrea collection of articles written between 2015 and 2019 by Mr. Matzneff.

“Gabriel Matzneff, as we know, no longer had any publisher […] Through mutual friends, this book came to us. And we would not have wanted it if he had praised pedophilia, ”explained the general manager of this publishing house, François Bousquet, on Thursday.

This announcement had aroused many indignant reactions and questions about the advisability of contributing to the dissemination of the ideas of this author.

Monday, the editions of the New Bookstore announced, in a press release, to be “in the obligation to postpone indefinitely the publication” of this title.

“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.

The writings collected in this book predated the publication in January 2020 of the story The consent by Vanessa Springora, who told how she had been seduced in the 1980s by the novelist when she was not 14 and he was almost 50.

The consent had encouraged all of Mr. Matzneff’s publishers to withdraw his books from sale, and led the Paris prosecutor’s office to immediately open an investigation for rape of a 15-year-old minor.

Despite the means deployed to find facts not covered by the prescription, the investigation is likely to end in a dismissal, for lack of being able to identify at least one recent victim of Mr. Matzneff, now 86 years old. year.