Gabriel Matzneff Publishes First E-Novella and Inspires Collective Study

French author Gabriel Matzneff, known for his eccentric literary persona, has released two new books simultaneously. The first, "Les Émiles de Gab la Rafale" (Éditions Leo Scheer), is his first electronic novel, consisting of his email correspondence (which he terms "émiles") without the replies, offering a direct confrontation between literary style and daily reality. The second, a collective volume edited by Florent Georgesco (Éditions du Sandre), gathers sources, studies, testimonies, and documents to examine Matzneff's work and influences, including his ties to philosophy from ancient Rome to Nietzsche, his references to Casanova, Byron, Schopenhauer, and Dumas, and the role of bodily and gustatory pleasures in his poetics. Contributors include Henry de Montherlant, Christian Giudicelli, Dominique Noguez, Pierre Duroisin, Marc Alpozzo, and Clarisse Couturier-Garcia. Matzneff, who has long felt marginalized from literary prizes, continues to pursue happiness as his central motivation, as stated in his 1965 reflection: "The moments of happiness... shine in the grayness like carbuncles in the night."