Renato Poggioli (Florence 1907-1963) was an Italian literary critic and specialist in Russian literature. He is known for his book Teoria dell'arte d'avanguardia of 1962, translated into English as The Theory of the Avant-garde. In it he argued for the strict connection of the avant garde with the legacy of Romanticism. Father of NPR correspondent, Sylvia Poggioli. He is briefly mentioned in Saul Bellow's novel Herzog.[1]