Publisher to release unfinished Arcan work

MONTREAL, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A French publisher said 40 pages of an unfinished novel by the late Canadian writer Nelly Arcan will be released next year.

Publisher Bertrand Visage of Editions du Seuil in France said a sixth Arcan work featuring the late author's uncompleted novel will be released in fall 2010, The Montreal Gazette reported Saturday.

The news of a sixth Arcan work, which will include other writing from the "Putain" author, comes ahead of the November release of Arcan's fifth novel, "Paradis cles en main."

The author died Sept. 24 at age 36. No cause of death has been reported.

The Gazette said the works set to be published by Editions de Seuil next year were extracted from Arcan's computer after her death.

Jean Barbe, publisher of Editions Lemeac in Montreal, questioned the propriety of publishing the works.

"I think we should let it rest," Barbe said. "It's so greedy to want to hack into the computer right now and publish 40 pages of a new novel right now."