Does literary censorship still exist in France?

The professor says that “some authors only survive in history as martyrs of freedom of expression”. Therefore, like Etienne Durand, executed in 1618 for having published a satire against Louis XIII. Furthermore, Laurent Martin insists above all on “the effect of silence” of censorship: “how much [d’auteurs] have seen their writings. Therefore, even their seized person, whose names have not been retained? In addition, ».

According to him. Meanwhile, censorship “can also have a magnifying glass effect, a scandal effect, sometimes sought after by the authors themselves, sometimes not. For example. Therefore, it is certain that Vladimir Nabokov would have gone well from the scandal surrounding the exit of Lolita At a publisher as sulfurous as Maurice Girodias – but he took advantage of it. Similarly, ” Laurent Martin also underlines that “Marmontel wrote to Diderot at the end of the Bastille:” You does literary censorship still exist are now one of the embodied writers. Moreover, what a consecration! Moreover, ” “And that” Hugo wrote to Baudelaire after his conviction that he had just received the only distinction that. Therefore, the regime could grant him “. Furthermore,

“The practice of reading paper books being decreased in our societies. Moreover, control is now more due to online publications, texts, sounds or images”, by moderators and owners of major social networks. The historian considers. however, that “the rules set by these private interests are opaque, often questionable, and sometimes conflict with national standards and laws”.

That said. Selui Him, “the book remains haloed by a prestige all the more important since it is bought and mostly read by people who belong to the educated and wealthy classes and certain cases which touch it continue to arouse interest and controversy”.

Laurent Martin believes that “the question of manners. does literary censorship still exist sexuality, the protection of so -called” vulnerable “populations (women, children, popular classes) is a reason for recurring ban. Today. the dignity of people, the protection of the child, respect for privacy are reasons often invoked in court to claim the prohibition of a book or the suppression of certain passages ”. However. he stresses that “these different reasons do not replace each other, they coexist and can be invoked by a person or a group of people”.

Although “censorship in France has always been more centralized. stately than in the United States, […] it also exists [au niveau local] in our country ”, especially for shows. For Laurent Martin. “the real difference between the two countries is the almost sacred character of freedom of expression in the United States, protected by the first amendment to the Constitution, while the exceptions to freedom are much more numerous in French law”. does literary censorship still exist

He believes that “France, for the moment, is protected” from the banishments of books that currently affect American schools. Although there may be rare cases. vigilance remains necessary, “the national legal framework prohibits such drifts, publishers or authors who consider themselves victims of” censorship “often get the case with the courts”.

“What is true is that censorship. in the classic sense of an intervention a priori on the dissemination of a message by a political, religious or administrative authority, has practically disappeared from our societies. It tends to be replaced by legal actions, online demonstrations or denunciations calling for canceling this or that cultural production. “

According to Laurent Martin. “we can no longer speak of literary censorship in France today, simply because the legal framework is repressive and no longer censorial. The book and, more generally, cultural productions remain [néanmoins] an issue of tensions or even conflicts does literary censorship still exist ”. A situation which he interpreted positively. seeing there proof that “public space continues to be a place of debate; Silence would be worse than everything ”.

Even today. some books remain prohibited from publication or dissemination in France, due to the “risk of disturbing public order” which they represent, or following a judicial decision. Suicide. user manual (1982), written by Claude Guillon and Yves Le Bonniec, offers drug methods in his chapter ten to commit suicide. The work has been prohibited for sale since 1991. on the grounds of provocation to suicide and active aid for the act. Israel’s other face (2004) of Israel Adam Shamir, was quickly withdrawn from the sale after its publication. He was accused of incitement to hatred towards the Jews, and is no longer freely marketed to the general public.

More recently. two books for youth have been the subject of a ministerial does literary censorship still exist decree prohibiting their sale, donation or exposure to minors. Teach Tawhid to children (2019). by Muhammad Ibn’adi I-Wahhâb, an Islamic learning work of Wahhabi inspiration (rigorous current of Sunni Islam), was prohibited for risk of incentive to hatred or discrimination. Too small (2022). from Manu Causse, was prohibited for minors on the grounds that it contained on several pages “the complacent description of many very explicit sex scenes”.