The work, which tells the story of a medical student who steals corpses to dissect them and who falls on the remains of his own fiancée, is scandalous.
Shaken but encouraged by the novelist Joseph Marmette, his friend, Évanturel published in 1878 a volume of Premier poésies.
This collection, inspired by Musset but with accents verlainiens, still scandalizes the conservative literary milieu of Quebec at the time.
He was however one of the first to deal with themes different from those in force at the time: wide open spaces, patriotic impulses, glorification of God, etc.
He takes an observer position on art, love, death, the middle classes, social disparities, sadness, scenes of private life, etc.