1881
1881
A LAW IS VOTED Law on the Freedom of the Press of 29 July 1881 defining ‘press offences’ (particularly libel).
1946
1946
A LAW IS VOTED Law of September 25, 1946 permitting the revision of condemnations for offence against public decency pronounced against a book.
1946
Beginning of the French Indochina war (1946 – 1954)
1947
January 16, 1947
Beginning of the 4th Republic, Vincent Auriol president (1947 – 1954)
1949
1949
The founder of Editions Chott, Pierre Mouchot, understands the implications of the 1949 law. Creator of the hero Fantax, who features in a highly successful review, he chooses to scupper the publication
1949
The French Interior Ministry bans J’irai cracher sur vos tombes by Vernon Sullivan (Boris Vian) published in 1946: the author and the publisher (Jean d’Halluin) are condemned to pay a 100,000 francs fine
31 May, 1949
In application of the 1946 law, and at the request of the Société des Gens de Lettres, the Cour de cassation authorises the publication of six poems in Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal which had been withdrawn by order on August 20, 1857, only a few weeks after their publication by Poulet-Malassis.
July 16, 1949
A LAW IS VOTED Law on ‘publications intended for children’ creates the Commission de contrôle et de surveillance (Supervisory and Control Committee) to keep a close watch on and control publications for children and teenagers.
1950
January 1950
Creation of the Club directed by Claude Tchou.
2 March, 1950
First meeting of the Commission de surveillance et de contrôle of children’s publications
December 1950
French language and translated editions of Sexus, by Henry Miller; banned
1954
1954
Beginning of the Algerian War (1954 – 1962)
16 January, 1954
René Coty president (1954-1959)
1954
During the Algerian War, the French government attempted to gag the press. Intellectual reviews and a sector of the publishing world, especially Jérôme Lindon’s Éditions de Minuit, campaigned against this political censorship.
1954
Active in the same cause, the bookseller-publisher François Maspero, like Jérôme Lindon, had more books banned than other publishers.
1955
1955
Histoire d’O by Pauline Réage, published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, was banned from being displayed, publicised or sold to minors.
1956
1956
The end of the French protectorate in Morocco and Tunisia.
1956 to 1960
French decolonization of Sub-Saharan Africa.
1956
The trial of Jean-Jacques Pauvert, defended by Maître Maurice Garçon, for his edition of Sade’s Œuvres complètes. In 1957, Pauvert was condemned to pay a heavy fine and books were seized and destroyed.
December 1956
Nabokov’s Lolita, and 24 other publications by Olympia Press founded by Maurice Girodias, are banned.
1958
1958
The Appeal Court in Paris upholds the judgement condemning Pauvert to pay heavy fines for the publication of Sade’s Œuvres complètes but defers payment. The books seized are not destroyed but deposited in the French National Library. The second judgement is annulled.
1958
Henri Alleg’s La Question, published by Éditions de Minuit on February 12, is seized for ‘offence against national security’.
1958
A LAW IS VOTED The ruling of 23 December 1958 modifies Article 14 of the Law of July 16, 1949, and prescribes heavier sentences.
1959
8 January, 1959
Beginning of the 5th Republic, Charles de Gaulle president (1959-1969).
1962
1962
Decree banning L’Épi monstre by Nicolas Genka. The ban was annulled by the Conseil d’État only in 2005.
March 18, 1962
End of the Algerian War: The Évian accords.
A war fought with arms and words: ‘Rarely has a political event incited so many books as the Algerian War’, Roger Stéphane, France Observateur.
1965
April 1965
A ban on sale to minors of Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest, published by Editions Le Terrain vague, directed by Éric Losfeld.
December 1965
Pope Paul VI abolishes the Index .
1967
January 4, 1967
A LAW IS VOTED Modification of the 1949 law, creating new advantages for publishers
1968
May-June 1968
Social and cultural political protest movement
1969
20, June 1969
Georges Pompidou president (1969-1974)
1969
The Tricontinental review published by François Maspero is banned. The publisher disregards the ban, which results in several condemnations, including a 4-month prison sentence and a fine of 18,000 francs. Many publishers express their support for Maspero
July 1969
Sales to minors and display of Interdit de séjour by Tony Duvert are forbidden, Éditions de Minuit.
1970
1970
Proscription of Pour la libération du Brésil by Carlos Marighela published by Editions du Seuil. The book was republished by a joint imprint of 23 publishers in a gesture of protestation.
1971
1971
Foundation of the Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action
1972
1972
Ban on sale to minors of Rapport contre la normalité produced by the Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action, published by Éditions Champ Libre
1er juillet 1972
A LAW IS VOTED Law condemning racism completes the law of 29 July, 1881 with a section on the freedom of the press.
1973
1973
Régine Deforges and André Hardellet are condemned for their republication of Lourdes, lentes... (1969)
1974
1974
Présidence de Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1974-1981).
1975
1975
A LAW IS VOTED The ‘Veil’ law legalized abortion under certain conditions. The law was finally passed in 1979.
1976
1976
"Prisons d'Afrique" by Jean-Paul Alata banned.
1981
21 May, 1981
François Mitterrand president (1981-1995)
1987
2 March 1987
Robert Laffont is condemned to suppress twenty-seven pages of Laurent Gally’s book, L'Agent noir, une taupe dans l'affaire Abdallah. On March 6, 17,000 unexpurgated copies are seized and burned.
31 December 1987
Suicide, mode d’emploi: histoire, technique, actualité, by Claude Guillon and Yves Le Bonniec, published in 1982 by Editions Alain Moreau, is the origin of a law suppressing incitement to suicide.
1989
1989
In February, a fatwa is pronounced in Iran against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. The book was published in France by Christian Bourgois in the month of July.
1990
1990
Régine Deforges is cleared of charges brought against her by Margaret Mitchell’s heirs, after several years of trials. They accused her of plagiarizing ‘Gone with the Wind’ in her novel, La Bicyclette bleue.
1995
17 May,1995
Jacques Chirac president (1995-2007)
1996
1996
The book written by Doctor Claude Gubler and journalist Michel Gonod, Le Grand Secret (Plon), is banned. In 2004, The European Court of Human Rights annulled this decision.
1998
1998
Alain Delon attacks Editions Grasset after learning of their project to produce a biography of the star.
1998
Publication of Procès de Jean-Marie le Pen. The author Mathieu Lindon was sued for libel by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
2000
2000
In April, Fayard withdraws Renaud Camus’s La Campagne de France from sale, after a polemic about anti-Semite opinions expressed by the author. The book was reprinted in July without the incriminated passages and with a preface by Claude Durand.
2001
21 May 2001
A LAW IS VOTED Law n°2001-434 recognizes the slave trade as a crime against humanity.
2002
2002
Rose Bonbon by Nicolas Jones-Gorlin is attacked by associations for the protection of children.
2006
2006
The Tribunal correctionnel rejects accusations against Pogrom by E. Bénier-Bürckel (Flammarion) of incitement of racial and religious hatred and the diffusion of a pornographic message likely to be seen by minors.
2007
16 may 2007
Election of Nicolas Sarkozy