French author Gabriel Matzneff faces underage rape probe after book details victim’s suffering
- The probe was launched after an examination of a book, where author Springora describes how she was seduced at the age of 14 by Matzneff
- The 83-year-old denied wrongdoing and claimed that there had been an ‘exceptional love’ between him and Springora
Paris prosecutors on Friday opened a rape investigation into the author Gabriel Matzneff, a day after the publication of a book detailing his sexual relationship with a girl of 14 over three decades ago.
The probe was launched after an examination of the book Consent, published on Thursday, where author Vanessa Springora describes a sexual relationship she had with Matzneff in the mid-1980s when he was 36 years her senior, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement. Heitz said the inquiry would focus on “rapes committed against a minor” aged under 15.
In Consent, Springora, 47, now a leading publisher, describes how she was seduced at the age of 14 by Matzneff and how this left lasting scars.
Matzneff, an essay writer long admired by some in French literary circles, never made any secret of his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys.
