A juror for the Renaudot prize, the academician Dominique Bona, said Monday, November 30, to regret the consequences that the award attributed to Gabriel Matzneff, a writer who publicly spoke of his pedophilia, said, but this prize should not serve as a "
scapegoat
".
Read also: The fall of the writer Gabriel Matzneff
The jury was targeted Saturday by an article in the New York Times which recalled the circumstances of the Renaudot prize for the essay in 2013 for this controversial writer.
The American daily denounced more widely the manifest conflicts of interest in French literary prices.
"
All this evil comes from this Matzneff affair, which we are strongly criticized
", she declared Monday to AFP and to Livres Hebdo, partners of the 2020 award ceremony. "
For my part I do not under- not consider this Matzneff affair.
I feel the violence, I assume, I think the whole jury assumes, our responsibility in this story.
The consequences of this case were much more serious than we thought,
”she continued.
In January 2020, the editor Vanessa Springora published "
Le Consentement
", an account of her relationship, when she was a minor, with the writer.
“
For my part I deeply regret the harm that this award may have caused, I regret the harm that it may have done to Vanessa Springora, I regret the injury inflicted on people who fight for associations for the defense of children.
And I also regret the harm that this has caused for a writer who has found himself banished from society, and the victim of a manhunt
, ”continued Bona, who also sits at the French Academy.
“
I know: at the moment the Renaudot is serving as a little scapegoat.
It's a painting that is partly too dark,
”she said.
“
We accept criticism, we take it into account, we will talk about it.
On the other hand, let us also recognize the work that is done at Renaudot, which is truly inspired by the love we all have for literature.
It's a writers
'
prize
”.
The two Renaudot prizes were awarded on Monday to women, that of the novel to Marie-Hélène Lafon for "
History of the son
", and that of the essay to the Canadian Dominique Fortier for "
The Cities of paper: a life of Emily Dickinson
”.
