Louis Bertrand et "le romantisme incarné" dans le "Récit de famille" de Paul Foisset

This article explores the clash between the Classicists and the Romanticists in the French provinces, by exploring the particular case study of a group of intellectual figures in the city of Dijon (Burgundy, France) during the nineteenth century. It does so by closely analysing some excerpts of Paul Foisset's 'Family Tales' ('Le Récit de famille'), a memoir which remains for the most part unpublished in the Archives départementales de la Côte-d'Or (Dijon). In particular, this article argues that Paul Foisset's posthumous negative portrayal of the poet Aloysius Bertrand (1807-1841) as 'the incarnation of Romanticism' was influenced by Théophile Foisset's (Paul's father) classicist views. Théophile Foisset might have promoted the idea of Bertrand as a misfit within cultural life in Dijon, but further evidence shows that Bertrand was neither a Romantic extremist, nor an outsider, but rather a central figure of the cultural life of his city.