Vanessa Springora, 47, a publisher, recounts how she allegedly had sex in the mid-1980s, at the age of 14, with Gabriel Matzneff, an award-winning author then nearly 50. For many, the debate over the behaviour of the 83-year-old writer is long overdue, given the essayist and commentator had described in sometimes lurid details his experiences with underage teens in his published work. He described his pedophile and sexual tourism activities in several of his books as well as on his official website, and those activities were mentioned on national TV. Gabriel Matzneff , né le 12 août 1936 à Neuilly-sur-Seine , est un écrivain français . All rights reserved. Matzneff has denied any wrongdoing and in a statement to the Parisien newspaper on Sunday denounced 'such unjust and excessive attacks' and claimed his relationship with Springora had been one of 'beauty'.

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All rights reserved. Vanessa Springora, 47, a publisher, recounts how she allegedly had sex in the mid-1980s, at the age of 14, with Gabriel Matzneff, an award-winning author then nearly 50.She does not accuse Mr Matzneff of forcing her to have sex, explaining that she was captivated by the older man’s charisma.“How can you admit that you were abused, when you cannot deny that you consented?” she writes. Unlike almost every other western country, the legal notion of statutory rape has never been part of modern French law, although children under the age of six were notoriously considered in a In spite of the public outcry, when a bill on sexual violence was brought to the national assembly in 2018, and the legal age of consent of 15 voted into law, the clause that would have brought statutory rape of a minor on to the books was voted down. He has won prestigious awards.In the past, French literary figures have defended him against condemnation, prompting comparisons with Roman Polanski, the film director whose French citizenship protects him from extradition to the United States over a 42-year-old charge of underage sex.Bernard Pivot, the former host of a TV show about books on which Mr Matzneff became embroiled in a row with another author over underage sex in 1990, said attitudes have changed in France.“In the 70s and 80s, literature came before morality; today morality comes before literature. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. When did you feel desire for this adult who hastened to benefit from it? asks Pivot with an amused tone. 'As if his passage through my life had not devastated me enough, he now has to document, falsify, record and etch forever his misdeeds,' she writes in the book. Morally, it is a progress,' he said.Amid uproar over those comments, Pivot later added he regretted he did 'not have the right words that there needed to be' on the 1990 programme. The revelations have caused a storm. 'The uproar over the conduct of Pivot, now president of the Academy Goncourt which hands out one of France's most prestigious literary prizes, only grew when in a tweet he expressed no regret for the interview which he argued was the product of a different era. Matzneff has denied any wrongdoing and in a statement to the Parisien newspaper on Sunday denounced 'such unjust and excessive attacks' and claimed his relationship with Springora had been one of 'beauty'  (pictured: Matzenff in Paris in 2009The controversy has also renewed attention on extraordinary television footage from 1990 where prominent French literary commentator Bernard Pivot, hosting his chat show 'Apostrophes', lets Matzneff talk unchallenged about his sexual exploits.Springora's book is due to be published on Thursday'Why are you specialised in the schoolgirls and kitty-cats?' Gabriel Matzneff published published a well known but notorious essay called 'Les Moins de seize ans' ('Those Less than 16') in the 1970sProminent French author Gabriel Matzneff, known for his love of sex with teenage girls and boys, has been slammed in a new book by a woman who was 'left scarred' by her experiences with him.In the book 'Consent', Vanessa Springora, 47, now a leading publisher, describes how she was seduced at the age of 14 by Gabriel Matzneff, then aged 36 years her senior.