Paris
A novel told from the viewpoint of a child molester and murderer has been withdrawn by its publisher amid a national argument about freedom of speech versus obscenity. The novel, Rose Bonbon, by Nicolas Jones-Gorlin, is narrated by a pedophile who describes abusing and killing young girls. The author says his book “demonstrates the complacency that surrounds pedophilia,” and defends it as a “critique of society.” But children’s groups complained angrily about what they called pornographic content, and the French publisher Gallimard had to suspend distribution. Other groups, including France’s Human Rights League, said that denying writers the right to describe society’s ills was an attack on their freedom of creativity.
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