Paris (AFP)
The CEO of Gallimard Publishing, which this week interrupted the sale of the Journal of Gabriel Matzneff, the subject of an investigation for rape of a minor, said on Sunday that it "was becoming more and more problematic" because of the "link" of its written with "real facts about living people".
"I felt that the link, the tension between his writings and real life was becoming more and more problematic and that the spirit of transgression could not alone justify the programming," said Antoine Gallimard in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.
"I consider him a writer, but I have always been embarrassed that the Journal reports real facts concerning living people", continues the CEO of Gallimard, while emphasizing his opposition to "any form of censorship".
"Of course, I had doubts" about the merits of the publication of the Journal of the writer, he admits.
The publishing house announced Tuesday the cessation of the marketing of the Journal of Gabriel Matzneff that it published for thirty years, following the testimony of Vanessa Springora in "The Consent", a book that sheds a harsh light on practices pedophiles of the 83-year-old writer, now the target of an investigation for "rape of a minor".
It is the first time that Gallimard has taken such a step.
"When I heard about the Consent, before it went into bookstores, I didn't think I would move," says Antoine Gallimard.
"But, he justifies, beyond the debate on the literary quality of the text, I was very touched by the reading of Vanessa Springora's book. It made me realize the devastating effects of the manipulation of an adult on a very young girl. In Gabriel Matzneff's Journal, there was a missing part: the victim ".
It is this text that "motivated" my decision, assures Antoine Gallimard, because according to him "my responsibility as a man and editor is also to hear the suffering of others".
After Gallimard, three other publishing houses: La Table Ronde (Madrigall group, controlled by Antoine Gallimard), Léo Scheer and Stock have announced that they are ceasing to market the writer's works under a preliminary investigation. for rape of minors under 15 years of age.
© 2020 AFP