The Paris attorney has reported that an investigation has been opened on alleged violation against the writer Gabriel Matzneff, 83. In the book 'Consent', the editor Vanessa Springora , 47, describes how she was seduced when she was 14 years old by Matzneff, who was 50 years old at the time, and what are the consequences with which she has lived since then.

The volume went on sale Thursday in France, in the middle of the #MeToo movement, which has given rise to many testimonies of victims of sexual abuse, after decades in which, in the eyes of many people, an excessively permissive attitude reigned Regarding sexual exploitation.

For many, the debate about the writer's behavior is nothing new, since the essayist has never deprived himself of telling his sexual experiences with adolescents in detail.

For years, Matzneff has clearly realized, in television programs and in his writings, his predilection for minors. In the mid-1970s, he published an essay, which became well known, called 'Les moins de seize ans' ('Those under 16').

Although Matzeneff has always boasted of having a long list of conquests, Springora is the first person to speak openly about his experiences with him.

"As if this period of my life had not destroyed me enough, now he has to document, falsify, record and record his misdeeds forever," says the editor.

"How to admit that they abused you when you cannot deny that you gave your consent? When did you feel desires for this adult, who hastened to take advantage of you? For years, I will also have to deal with this notion of the victim," he says.

For his part, Matzneff denied having acted badly and in a letter sent to the French newspaper 'Le Parisien' on Sunday, denounced "excessive and unfair attacks" and defended the "beauty" of his relationship with Sringora.

Critics of several ministers

Before the book was published, some ministers criticized Matzneff's attitude , claiming that his literary fame should not protect him from assuming the consequences of what he did. "The literary aura [was not] a guarantee of impunity," recalled Culture Minister Franck Riester, who expressed his "support" for "all the victims" of the writer .

Adrien Taquet, secretary of state for child protection within the Ministry of Health, praised Springora for raising her voice. "I would like the end of silence, the end of impunity ... not to end here," he said on the Europe 1 radio station.

The controversy also brought some television images from 1990 , in which the well-known French presenter Bernard Pivot , in his program 'Apostrophes', allows Matzneff to speak openly about his sexual experiences .

"Why are you specialized in school girls and kittens?" , Pivot asks in an animated tone. "I prefer to have people not so tanned and friendlier in my life , " replies Matzneff.

The only one who expresses her disagreement is the Canadian writer Denise Bombardier who, furiously, throws: "I think I live on another planet (...) Mr. Matzneff seems pathetic to me."

The uproar over the behavior of Pivot, currently president of the Goncourt Academy, which each year delivers one of the most prestigious literary awards in the country, only grew when, in a tweet, he said he did not regret what happened, arguing that the interview took place in a different time and context .

"In the 1970s and 1980s, literature was before morality. Today, morality is before literature. Morally, it is a breakthrough," he said.

Seeing the angry reaction of Internet users, Pivot added later that he regretted "not having had the right words" in the 1990 program.

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