Publishing, the Rules of the Trade

Pogrom

Eric Benier-Burckel, Flammarion, original edition, 2004, Coll. Bfm - Limoges

In November 2006, the Tribunal correctionnel rejected the proceedings brought against Pogrom for anti-Semitic insults, incitement to racial hatred and diffusion of a pornographic message in a book accessible to minors. In their verdict, the judges define the fictional nature of the work without offering a literary assessment, an unprecedented event.  The possibility of assimilating the main character with the author was not legally established. The critical reviews and the editorial context were taken into account.  The novel was examined in its entirety, not only the incriminated passages. The court concluded, according to the analysis of lawyer Agnès Tricoire, ‘that the freedom of creation is greater than the freedom of expression’ and defines ‘a sort of penal autonomy’ for the creator