In his article for Nuovi contributi critici su Ardengo Soffici (New Critical Contributions on Ardengo Soffici, 1994), the Italian critic Geno Pampaloni describes Ardengo Soffici's work, which spans several decades and is concerned in large measure with various forms of artistic expression and experimentation: "La grande quercia Soffici, con i suoi molti rami (pittore, polemista, critico e storico dell'arte) è un'unità totale. Operare in essa delle distinzioni non è possibile" (The mighty Soffici oak, with its many branches [painter, polemicist, critic and art historian] is a unified whole. It is not possible to make distinctions within that unity). By this Pampaloni means not only that Soffici looms large on the Italian cultural landscape by virtue of the sheer quantity of his output but also that his narrative writings are inseparable from his poetry, which in turn is intertwined with his interest in art. Although his fame is, to...