Gabriel Matzneff

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Gabriel Matzneff (1983, photography by Florence Kirastinnicos)

Gabriel Matzneff (born August 12, 1936 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) is a French writer .

Life

Gabriel Matzneff comes from a Russian family who emigrated to France after the Russian Revolution of 1917. His parents divorced when Matzneff was a child. However, he continued to grow up in the cultured milieu of Russian emigrants of high origin.

From 1954 he studied classical literature and Russian literature at the Sorbonne . In 1957 he got to know the writer Henry de Montherlant , with whom he had a close friendship until Montherlant's suicide in 1972. From 1953 Matzneff kept a personal diary, which he published from 1976. Several of his works are inspired by experiences of his childhood, such as Ivre du vin perdu (1981), Mamma, li Turchi! (2000) and La Lettre au Capitaine Brunner (2015).

In 1959 he was drafted for military service in Algeria . After returning to Paris in 1961, he began to publish his texts in various magazines of various political orientations and in the newspaper Combat .

Awards

Gabriel Matzneff has received several prizes from the Académie française , including the Prix ​​Mottart (1987) and the Prix ​​Amic (2009). In 2013 he received for the book Séraphin, c'est la fin! the essay prize of the renowned Prix ​​Renaudot .

pedophilia

Defense of pedophilia in work and public appearances from 1974

Title page of Les moins de seize ans (1974)

At the latest since the publication of his work Les moins de seize ans (“The Under-16s”), published in 1974, Matzneff has addressed his sexual preference for young girls and boys into childhood and defended sexual affairs with children even when appearing in the Public, especially on television. In prominent literary circles this was accepted for decades and defended against objections by eminent representatives of literary criticism. The prominent journalist and literary critic Bernard Pivot invited Matzneff five times as a guest on his television programs. On September 12th, 1975 Pivot presented Les moins de seize ans on Antenne 2 . Matzneff, who was present as a guest on the show, said on the occasion:

“Je pense que les adolescents, les jeunes enfants, disons entre 10 et 16 ans, sont peut-être à l'âge où les pulsions d'affectivités, les pulsions sexual également, sont les plus fortes parce que les plus neuves. Et je crois que rien ne peut arriver de plus beau et de plus fécond à un adolescent ou une adolescente que de vivre un amour. Soit avec quelqu'un de son age (…), mais aussi peut-être avec un adulte qui l'aide à se découvrir soi-même, à découvrir la beauté du monde créé, la beauté des choses. »

“I think that adolescents and children, say between 10 and 16 years of age, are perhaps at the age when the affective and also the sexual urges are strongest, because they are the newest. And I believe that nothing more beautiful and fruitful can happen to a young person or a young person than to live a love. Either with someone of his own age (...) but maybe also with an adult who helps him / her to discover himself, to discover the beauty of the world and of things. "

In January 1977, he wrote an open letter, published in the daily Le Monde , demanding the release of three imprisoned men accused of sexually engaging 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls. The signatories of the letter included numerous prominent representatives of the cultural sector, including Jean-Paul Sartre , Simone de Beauvoir , Gilles Deleuze , Guy Hocquenghem , Louis Aragon , Roland Barthes , Philippe Sollers and the later Minister of Culture, Jack Lang .

The scientist Anne-Claude Ambroise-Rendu, author of a book on the history of pedophilia in the 19th and 20th centuries, notes that in addition to Pivot, the daily newspapers Le Monde and Liberation also supported Matzneff and his concerns: “ Le Monde criticizes Matzneff in the Never in the 1970s and Liberation speaks little of him, but supports the pedophile movement ”. She sees him alongside the writer Tony Duvert and the philosopher René Scherer as the “figurehead” of the defense of pedophilia, even though he has refused the floor. However, Le Monde , in which Matzneff had had a weekly column since 1977, ended this form of collaboration in 1982 when Matzneff - wrongly, as it later turned out - was suspected of pedophile acts in connection with an affair involving an educational institution in the southern French department of Gard .

From the mid-1980s, public opinion began to change in France and the issue of child and adolescent sexual abuse became more publicized. The term “pedophilia” found its way into everyday language. Nevertheless, allegations that the Canadian writer and journalist Denise Bombardier made in Bernard Pivot's literary television talk show Apostrophes in 1990 against Matzneff, who was also present, were dismissed as puritanical by other participants in the program, including the writer Christine Angot . Bombardier was then exposed to virulent attacks in the French media. Matzneff's publisher Philippe Sollers referred to her on the television channel France 3 on March 19, 1990 as Connasse ("stupid cow"); In the March 30 issue of Le Monde , the literary editor-in-chief Josyane Savigneau was indignant that Matzneff did not rape anyone, accused Bombardier of “stupidity” and misunderstanding of social realities. Only a few critical voices rose against Matzneff, according to a contribution by Guy Sitbon in the Nouvel Observateur . In 1999 Bombardier was attacked by a columnist in Liberation for what she said on the 1990 program.

As society became more aware of the problem of pedophilia and sexual violence against children and adolescents in the 1990s and 2000s, Matzneff was increasingly isolated. Nevertheless, he was awarded the prestigious Prix ​​Renaudot literary prize in 2013 . Some of the members of the jury, who voted seven to three in favor of Matzneff, later stated that they had also decided in favor of Matzneff because they saw him as a victim of a ban by the media and public denunciation.

Scandal and prosecution from December 2019

Matzneff condemning collage on a street corner in Paris 6th arrondissement (January 2020)

From December 2019, a heated public discussion broke out about an autobiographical book by the publisher Vanessa Springora entitled Le consentement ("The Consent"), in which she accused Matzneff of having had a sexual relationship with her in the 1980s, which had begun when she was 14 years old. The age of consent in France is 15 years; the 30-year statute of limitations for the incriminated sexual acts had already expired when Springora's book was published. According to Le Monde from December 2019, Matzneff's relationship with Springora, when it existed, was well known in publishing circles and was not offensive; Springora's mother also worked in publishing. At the time, Matzneff had not kept the relationship a secret and appeared on a television appearance accompanied by Springora.

After the book Springoras was officially published on January 2, 2020, the Paris public prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation against Matzneff on the following day on suspicion of rape of young people under the age of 15. As a result, numerous public actors distanced themselves from Matzneff. The news magazine Le Point announced the end of the collaboration with Matzneff on January 5, 2020. At the end of December 2019, the director of Le Point , Étienne Gernelle, assured that in view of demands in social networks to dismiss Matzneff, he wanted to stick to him even more than before. Until January 10 announced several publishers, including Gallimard , La Table ronde , Léo Sheer and to Hachette belonging Éditions Stock Matzneffs books not to want to sell more of. Also on January 7th, the French Minister of Culture, Franck Riester , ruled that an author who makes himself the “Herald of Pedocriminality” should not receive state support. Riester was referring to the fact that Matzneff had been awarded a state grant in 2019 in recognition of his literary work; he had received a total of around 160,000 euros from the relevant fund of the Center national du livre over two decades. Riester also asked to review Matzneff's previous awards.

In late January 2020, Matzneff said he regretted his past pedophile acts; however, according to Matzneff, “at that time” nobody viewed this as a crime. By the beginning of March 2020, the police carried out several house searches, including at the Gallimard publishing house , at Matzneff's residence and at a hotel in Italy where Matzneff was staying at the beginning of 2020. A trial against Matzneff for glorifying pedophilia has been scheduled for September 2021.

On February 11, 2020, the Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz announced a call for witnesses, among other things with the aim of finding possible further victims.

On March 31, 2020, the now 62-year-old Francesca Gee went public. Gee had met Matzneff in 1973 and, with the consent of her parents, lived with him for three years. She accused the writer of using photos and letters from her in his works against her will, including in Les moins de seize ans . In 2004 she had written a manuscript about the experience, which had been rejected by all publishers, including Grasset , where Springora's consent had appeared three months before Gees went public .

Among other things, Gee stated that during her relationship with Matzneff she visited the gynecologist and later French health minister Michèle Barzach several times, in particular to get her to prescribe the birth control pill. Barzach was then interrogated by the police in April 2020.

On July 23, 2020, the Deputy Mayor of Paris, Christophe Girard, responsible for culture, announced his resignation. Girard had been general secretary of the fashion company Yves Saint-Laurent (YSL) in the 1980s , which Matzneff had given significant sums of money during this time. In particular, YSL had financed a hotel room for the writer in the Paris district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés for a long time , where Matzneff met Vanessa Springora. Girard had been heard by the police as a witness in the matter in March 2020. City councilors of the left-ecological green party Europe Écologie-Les Verts (EELV), which had entered into an alliance with the socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo in the local elections that had recently taken place , had therefore called for Girard's resignation. Immediately before his resignation, feminists and green city councilors demonstrated against him in front of the town hall . The affair plunged the city government into a crisis. Hidalgo, who supported Girard even after his resignation, announced legal action against some of the demonstrators who, among other things, had denigrated the city administration as "Pedoland". She accused the two EELV city councilors who had organized the demonstration of having acted in opposition to the city council majority. Girard himself was greeted with thunderous applause from members of the left-wing parties PS and PCF , but also from some members of the opposition, on the day after his resignation, when he was a simple member of a plenary session of the city council .

Works

  • Comme le feu mêlé d'aromates . Lagny-sur-Marne, Paris 1959.
  • Le Défi . Lagny-sur-Marne, Paris 1965.
  • L'Archimandrite . La Table ronde, Paris 1966.
  • La caracole, chroniques polémiques, 1963-1968 . La Table ronde, Paris 1968.
  • Le Carnet arabe . La Table ronde, Paris 1971.
  • Nous n'irons plus au Luxembourg . La Table ronde, Paris 1972.
  • Les Moins de seize ans . Julliard, Paris 1974.
  • Douze poèmes pour Francesca . A. Eibel, Lausanne 1977.
  • La Diététique de Lord Byron . La Table ronde, Paris 1984.
  • Le saber de Didi, pamphlet . La Table ronde, Paris 1986.
  • Le Taureau de Phalaris, dictionnaire philosophique . La Table ronde, Paris 1987.
  • Cette camisole de flammes, journal 1953-1962 . Gallimard, Paris 1989.
  • Élie et Phaéton, journal 1970-1973 . La Table ronde, Paris 1991.
  • Mes amours décomposés, journal 1983-1984 . Gallimard, Paris 1992.
  • Les levres menteuses . La Table ronde, Paris 1992.
  • La prunelle de mes yeux . Gallimard, Paris 1993.
  • Maîtres et complices . J.-C. Lattès, Paris 1994.
  • Le dîner des mousquetaires . La Table ronde, Paris 1995.
  • De la rupture . Payot & Rivages, Paris 1997.
  • Boulevard Saint-Germain . Éditions du Rocher, Monaco, Paris 1998.
  • Mamma, li Turchi! La Table ronde, Paris 2000.
  • Super flumina Babylonis . La Table ronde, Paris 2000.
  • C'est la gloire, Pierre-François! La Table ronde, Paris 2002.
  • Yogourt et yoga . La Table ronde, Paris 2004.
  • Voici venir le fiancé . La Table ronde, Paris 2006.
  • Vous avez dit métèque? La Table ronde, Paris 2008.
  • Les émiles de Gab la rafale . Léo Scheer, Paris 2010.
  • La sequence de l'énergumène . Léo Scheer, Paris 2011.
  • Monsieur le comte monte en ballon . Léo Scheer, Paris 2012.
  • Séraphin, c'est la fin! La Table ronde, Paris 2013.
  • Les nouveaux émiles de Gab la Rafale, courrier électronique . Léo Scheer, Paris 2013.
  • La lettre au capitaine Brunner . La Table ronde, Paris 2015.
  • Un diable dans le bénitier . Stock, Paris 2017.

Web links

Commons : Gabriel Matzneff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gabriel Matzneff. In: babelio.fr. Retrieved June 20, 2020 (French).
  2. ↑ a b Gabriel Matzneff. In: gala.fr . Retrieved June 20, 2020 (French).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g "Les temps ont changé, il est devenu indéfendable": dans un contexte post- # metoo, le malaise Gabriel Matzneff. In: lemonde.fr . December 23, 2019, accessed December 27, 2019 (French).
  4. ↑ Joseph Hanimann: Pederast and man of letters. In: sueddeutsche.de . December 30, 2019, accessed June 20, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b c d 2–10 January 2020 - France. Mise en cause de l'écrivain Gabriel Matzneff pour pedophilia. In: Encyclopædia Universalis (online). Retrieved June 20, 2020 (French).
  6. ↑ Georg Blume: Vanessa Springora: When literature celebrates pedophilia . In: The time . No. 4/2020 , January 16, 2020 ( zeit.de [accessed June 22, 2020]).
  7. ↑ a b Romy Straßenburg: industrial accident . In: Friday . No. 3/2020 , January 16, 2020 ( freitag.de [accessed June 22, 2020]).
  8. ↑ a b Affaire Matzneff: un appel à témoins lancé pour retrouver of victimes. In: lemonde.fr . February 11, 2020, accessed on June 22, 2020 (French).
  9. ^ A b "Un appel à témoins sera lancé aujourd'hui dans l'affaire Matzneff", advertisement Rémy Heitz. In: europe1.fr . February 11, 2020, accessed on June 22, 2020 (French).
  10. ↑ Polémique sur les aides publiques de Gabriel Matzneff: "Il ne contribue pas au rayonnement littéraire de la France", affirm Franck Riester. In: francetvinfo.fr . February 28, 2020, accessed June 21, 2020 (French).
  11. ↑ a b c d Une autre victime de Matzneff sort du silence. In: Le Monde . March 31, 2020, accessed June 20, 2020 (French).
  12. ↑ a b affair Matzneff: Christophe Girard, adjoint d'Hidalgo, entendu comme par les témoin enquêteurs. In: publicsenat.fr. March 4, 2020, accessed June 21, 2020 (French).
  13. ↑ Stéphanie Marteau, Dominique Perrin: Affaire Gabriel Matzneff: l'ancienne ministre de la santé Michèle Barzach entendue par la police. In: Le Monde . April 27, 2020, accessed June 20, 2020 (French).
  14. ↑ Affaire Matzneff: Anne Hidalgo va saisir la justice après la démission de son adjoint Christophe Girard. In: lemonde.fr . July 24, 2020, accessed on July 24, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Matzneff, Gabriel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuilly-sur-Seine