-- RETOUR au CEMaPi

IF THERE was a prize for braving the ridicule of critics, it would go to Mazarine Pingeot, the illegitimate daughter of the late President Mitterrand, whose second novel is launched today amid a chorus of literary scorn.

Mlle Pingeot, 25, who became an instant media celebrity in 1995 after a childhood as the secret princess at the court of her late father, became a bestselling writer and laughing stock of the Paris chattering classes on her first literary outing two years ago. Called Premier Roman (First Novel), her debutant book was demolished as the pretentious autobiography of a cloistered, spoilt child. It was translated into eight languages and prompted a scurrilous pastiche under the joke name "Margarine Peugeot".

The continuing fascination with the 14-year reign of the Machiavellian Mitterrand will ensure good sales for Mlle Pingeot's latest literary outing, Zeyn, ou la reconquête (Zeyn, or The Reconquest). However the young philosophy graduate and aspiring university lecturer needed a thick skin to absorb the critical barrage which rained down on her efforts.

"I had to force myself to read every page because the author is dear to the heart of the French taxpayer," said Le Figaro's critic. "To tell the truth, if Mazarine Pingeot was not the daughter of the late Mitterrand, no one would mention this book." Mlle Pingeot had "not so much written a book as drafted a homework exercise".

Le Journal du Dimanche joined the game of citing embarrassingly bad extracts from Zeyn, the tale of a Syrian girl who goes in search of the memory of her late father and suggested that she should have employed the services of a good "nègre" (negro), as ghost-writers are still known in French, in the face of political correctness.

A corrosively patronising review in Le Monde said that Mlle Pingeot was still in search of herself rather than her father. "She tangles herself up in a tale in which she doesn't really believe herself. Some sentences in this book should never have been printed." Unfortunately, said Le Monde, the world could surely count on a third novel, given Mlle Pingeot's determination to earn her spurs as a romancière.

In interviews over the weekend, the author, who bears a striking resemblance to her late father, confirmed that she was working on another oeuvre and resorted to what has become her standard defence: she has no chance of a fair deal because Mitterrand's memory stirs violent emotions. She was inured to "violent and disproportionate" attacks on her writing abilities, she told Le Figaro. "This is because everything that touches my father sparks this absolutely impassioned phenomenon."

The consensus on Mlle Pingeot holds that she is trading on Mitterrand's memory and her role as celebrity daughter to launch a literary career. She puts backs up because she is demanding absolute privacy for herself while cutting a media dash as the chief guardian of her father's name.

The dismantling of Mitterrand's posthumous reputation has accelerated in recent months with the eruption of more scandals from the era of the late Socialist President. Among these is the investigation into the alleged use of the Elf-Aquitaine oil company as a slush fund for the Mitterrand circle.