ABSTRACT
The dissemination and popularity of the periodical Revue encyclopedique, where most of the articles on Giacomo Leopardi were published, French criticism and reception reached many countries across Europe, and particularly influenced the first instances of Leopardi studies in Britain. The dissemination of the Italian poet's work in France and Germany was at first contextualized within the framework of Italy's nineteenth-century literature. During the 1820s and 1830s, French critics also dedicated their attention to the rise of a new poetic voice in Italy. The French critic identifies in Leopardi a unique tension between tradition and innovation. As an appendix to the article, the French critic includes a poem by the English poet William Cowper, drawing a meaningful comparison with Leopardi. Sainte-Beuve's observation is highly significant, as it allows for a distinct conception of the cultural distance between Leopardi and English culture by the mid-nineteenth century.
