Mr. Smith

This is good Bromfield, in the tradition of his earlier work, The Green Bay Tree, Possession, etc. It probably won't have the popular appeal of his later work; but it will help reinstate him in the critical judgment of those who once looked to him as outstanding among American writers. The sensationalism, the pandering populace, such aspects of Night in Bombay and others as fed the lurid imagination will be found in muted terms in only one incident in New Orleans. This is a psychological novel. The title is symbolic of Everyman of this troubled 20th century who appears, to his fellows, to be prosperous, a good husband and father, a good citizen, a sound businessman, an active club member, while underneath the assured front is boredom, disillusionment, restlessness, a sense of inadequacy, of frustration, an awareness that his life is filled with material things that cover the lack of spiritual and intellectual things.