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"We do not burn a book": the Italian publisher of Gabriel Matzneff defends the publication of Vanessavirus

2021-05-30T22:17:45.109Z


Boycotted by the publishing world in France, the writer targeted by an investigation for pedocriminality was able to publish his controversial book in 2000 copies on the other side of the Alps.


"

Books are read, they are not burned

".

The Italian publisher Michele Silenzi defended, in an interview with AFP, the publication of

Vanessavirus

, the latest book by Gabriel Matzneff

.

This is the response of the French writer to the

Consent

of Vanessa Springora.

Vanessavirus

was released this week in Italy by Liberilibri editions with a first printing of 2000 copies.

Read also: Gabriel Matzneff, refused by all publishers, himself distributes

Vanessavirus

, his latest book

This opus of 108 pages (in the Italian edition) translated by Giuliano Ferrara, journalist and former minister of Silvio Berlusconi, "

is the story of a manhunt, the story of an assassination

", affirms the house on its site. “

We first published it because it seemed fair to us to grant a right of reply to a man and an artist whose life and work are destroyed,

” explains Michele Silenzi. But “

it's also a beautiful book. A text of great literary value

", continues the editor, who exalts"

the indisputable and delicate force, also very dramatic, of the story

".

Gabriel Matzneff has self-published in France

Vanessavirus

, with a print run of 200 copies reserved for selected readers, for a price of 100 euros.

According to AFP information, all the publishers he had approached refused the book without reading it.

The Italian edition, which can be ordered from France for a much lower price, is "

the first to be accepted by a European publishing house and to be present in bookstores

", welcomes Liberilibri, founded in 1986 in Macerata. .

"

Books are published and read, they are not burned

", pleads Michele Silenzi.

The #MeToo movement "

is not a problem in itself

", he said.

What is, on the other hand, "

is that this type of movement too often tends to impose a 'cancel culture' with devastating cultural effects

".

"

We can no longer reflect on anything if a fact is not historicized and understood in its context and in its historical development

".

"

Inevitably controversially

"

I survived the Coronavirus.

I will not survive the Vanessavirus,

”writes Gabriel Matzneff at the opening of his story in Italian, a copy of which AFP has obtained.

Captain Dreyfus was innocent.

I'm not.

I am guilty of having adored freedom, beauty, love

”.

Gabriel Matzneff, 84, is the target of an investigation for rape of a minor under 15 years old opened after the publication in January 2020 of Vanessa Springora's story,

Le Consentement

.

She told how in the 1980s she was drawn into a relationship at 14 with a writer who was nearly 50.

In a separate procedure, the Paris Criminal Court invalidated last week a summons to appear against the writer for “

apologizing

” for pedocriminality after the publication of three articles between the end of December and the beginning of January in

l'Obs

,

le Parisien

and

the Express

.

The Consent

was released in March in Italy under the title

Il consenso

by La Nave di Teseo editions.

Read also: Gabriel Matzneff will not be tried for apologizing for pedocriminality

Michele Silenzi explains that the philosophy of the Liberilibri house is "to

disseminate ideas that stimulate intellectual emancipation and freedom of thought

".

According to him, "

what should a publisher do if not promote this process, even if it is sometimes inevitably in a controversial way?"

"

All of Gabriel Matzneff's French publishers have indefinitely suspended the sale of his works evoking his love affairs with underage boys and girls.

Others, with less controversial content, are however on sale, such as the collection of articles with which he obtained the Renaudot prize for the essay in 2013, “

Séraphin, c'est la fin!

".

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-05-30

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