France is shaken by a sexual relationship between a 14-year-old girl and a 50-year-old writer

Literary circles in France are excited about a new book that is likely to be published early next year. The author of the book is Vanessa Springora, who runs a French publishing house. She accused French author Gabriel Matzneff, 83, of child abuse in his book. The book has sparked controversy over the attitudes of the French elite and the literary world towards pedophiles. The Guardian has reported that the French author is now 83 years old and has denied the charges.

Seduction
Vanessa Springora is now 47 years old.

She is writing about events that took place many decades ago when she was only 14 years old. She claims in her book that Gabriel Matzneff “groomed” her when she was a minor. Her book “Le Consentement (Consent)” will be published next week. Attention to the book has become more pronounced since allegations surfaced against Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood film producer, in 2017.

Vanessa is very candid in her book, making it clear that there was no coercion involved. She goes on to add that she cannot deny that she gave her consent to a man who was 36 years older than her.

She goes on to say that the entire episode needs to be viewed from the proper perspective, as she was only 14 years old and her parents were going through a difficult divorce when Gabriel Matzneff petitioned for her. He would be waiting for her at the school gate and then take her to a hotel. Before that, he followed her and wrote her letters. According to the writer, Matzneff would take her to a hotel, to mislead the authorities, since there were doubts about her relationship with a young woman.

The book
The book is not an autobiography, but the entire story is presented in novel form. She doesn’t say the writer’s name, she just refers to him by his initials GM. However, there is no doubt that she is referring to the writer Matzneff, who is now 83 years old. The Telegraph reported that Matzneff won many prestigious awards during his writing career, although he acknowledged having relationships with minors, including young boys in the Philippines.

The writer’s influence is evident as the entire literary world overlooked his actions. Matzneff had publicly stated on French television many times that he was attracted to girls and teenagers. He had discussed his relationship with girls over the age of 15, since in France the age of consent is 15. This was probably why Matzell was careful to mention that the girls who entered his life were all older than that.

Matzell’s attitude can be gauged by the fact that he wrote an open letter calling for the release of three men who were in pretrial detention and accused of having relations with 13- and 14-year-old boys.

At the time, even famous writers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simon de Beauvoir supported this action.

Matzel
Matzell has expressed his “sadness” at the contents of the book. She feels that the writer’s goal is to disparage his work and damage his reputation. The fact is that the French literary world at that time did not consider it immoral to have a relationship with teenagers and that is why such relationships were not talked about much. Bernard Pivot, who was a famous critic and journalist at the time, has stated that times have changed and what was then moral is now considered taboo.

One example is S. Marin, who is now the Prime Minister of Finland and changing morality has accepted that she can be a leader even if she has a child out of wedlock.