This French writer operated openly as a pedophile for decades. He may finally face justice

Gabriel Matzneff was a celebrated writer with a coterie of powerful friends, including fashion designer Yves St. Laurent and former President François Mitterrand, who once described Matzneff as a “mix of Dorian Gray and Dracula.”

In “Le Consentement” , Vanessa Springora, now 47, claims she was groomed by Matzneff when she was a girl. She recounts a life of confusion and conflicted feelings that perhaps she had consented to the relationship and must be blamed. She writes of psychological devastation and of having no understanding that she was a victim until she was an adult.

“When you publish something it is a public confession,” he said. “That’s what writers do, that’s why writers are the first to be shot because they leave written traces. They write, they confess their sins. At that time nobody thought of the law. We did things that weren’t allowed ... nobody spoke of a crime at that time.”

The essence of Matzneff’s defense is that his sexual relations with children happened in a liberal, laissez-faire era before the #MeToo movement and other societal shifts that have changed sexual attitudes. He references a moment when famous writers including Michel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir and respected newspapers, notably Libération and Le Monde, defended the idea that sex with minors was a form of liberation for both parties.

French identity is entwined with reverence for culture. Literature, cinema and theater are seen as beacons of enlightenment in a philistine world. Government policy for more than half a century supported and defended this idea, giving rise to the expression “Books are published because they are considered artistically worthy, not profitable. Sales of Matzneff’s books could be counted more in the hundreds than in tens of thousands.

Introduce him to ‘Big Dick Rodney’ from ‘Godfather of Harlem.’

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