In his long life Wyndham Lewis produced a remarkable quantity and variety of artistic work. He began his career as a painter and became one of the greatest English artists of the century, known for his abstract vorticist work as well as his portraits.He was a leading literary figure in England during the 1910s and 1920s, when he initiated magazines to promote the work and ideas of himself and his friends. He wrote a great number of books, including three major novels, short stories, poetry, satire, polemics, literary and social criticism, and autobiography. T. S. Eliot called him "the most fascinating personality of our time," and all his work is colored by his complex, combative character. Unfortunately his quarrelsome nature and fiercely independent mind often went against the grain of current thinking. Only at the end of his life did he receive some measure of public recognition...