Among the generation of Italian writers that emerged in Italy during the mid 1950s to the late 1960s--a period marked by experimentalism and avant-garde activity--Paolo Volponi asserted himself as both challenging and innovative. Unlike many writers who are forgotten after their first, and sometimes only, successful work, Volponi's first novel, Memoriale (1962), was but a milestone in a career of significant works of poetry and fiction. He established himself as an innovative writer through his contributions to the journal Officina (Workshop), through which he made an important contact with Pier Paolo Pasolini. Pasolini, Francesco Leonetti, and Roberto Roversi were the editors of and major contributors to the journal, which lasted about six years after it began publication in 1955. As its title implies, Officina provided a forum for fresh and progressive ideas, featuring writers and critics such as Franco Fortini, Gianni Scalia, and Volponi.

Volponi's first poems and essays drew...