Léon Boitel, the provincial poet who was among the first readers of Gaspard de la Nuit

Among the first readers of Gaspard de la Nuit, few shared their opinion on the work. One of them was the poet-printer Léon Boitel (1806–1855), who offered a brief but penetrating review (April 1843) in the Revue du Lyonnais at the invitation of Sainte-Beuve and Victor Pavie. Boitel’s career and the analysis of his preferences highlight the traits that predisposed this little-known provincial poet to the intuitive intelligence of Bertrand’s poetics.