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Mr. Smith
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288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
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About the author
Louis Bromfield
208 books101 followersLouis Bromfield was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition winning the Pulitzer Prize and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts.
Bromfield studied agriculture at Cornell University from 1914 to 1916,[1] but transferred to Columbia University to study journalism. While at Columbia University, Louis Bromfield was initiated into the fraternal organization Phi Delta Theta. His time at Columbia would be short lived and he left after less than a year to go to war. After serving with the American Field Service in World War I and being awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, he returned to New York City and found work as a reporter. In 1924, his first novel, The Green Bay Tree, won instant acclaim. He won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for best novel for Early Autumn. All of his 30 books were best-sellers, and many, such as The Rains Came and Mrs. Parkington, were made into successful motion pictures.
photograph by: Carl Van Vechten
Bromfield studied agriculture at Cornell University from 1914 to 1916,[1] but transferred to Columbia University to study journalism. While at Columbia University, Louis Bromfield was initiated into the fraternal organization Phi Delta Theta. His time at Columbia would be short lived and he left after less than a year to go to war. After serving with the American Field Service in World War I and being awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, he returned to New York City and found work as a reporter. In 1924, his first novel, The Green Bay Tree, won instant acclaim. He won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for best novel for Early Autumn. All of his 30 books were best-sellers, and many, such as The Rains Came and Mrs. Parkington, were made into successful motion pictures.
photograph by: Carl Van Vechten
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 16, 2024
Bromfield riesce come pochi a farti immergere nelle pagine e nelle atmosfere dei suoi romanzi.
Ho letto delle critiche, delle accuse di razzismo, in un periodo in cui tutto è diventato censurabile, persino le fiabe, forse ci si dimentica di inquadrare il romanzo nel periodo storico in cui è stato scritto. Negli anni cinquanta, duante la seconda guerra mondiale, leggere due commenti sugli indigeni dell'isola in cui il protagonista è ststo spedito dall'esercito o sui giapponesi con cui erano in conflitto può dare fastidio, ma non può inficiare la qualità del romanzo.
Mr Smith è un signor nessuno, se si fosse chiamato signor Rossi sarebbe stato lo stesso.
Un giorno si guarda allo specchio e si vede per quel che è realmente. Inizia ad approfondire se stesso e così la sua vita interiore prende il sopravvento.
Il suo è un diario, una memoria storica che lo tiene in vita e gli consente di avere uno scopo in un periodo in cui ha bisogno di mettere nero su bianco la sua esistenza.
A distanza di anni il mondo non è poi tanto cambiato, leggendo scopriamo che potremmo esserci noi al di là dello specchio. Quello che scrive è banalmente semplice e disarmante, quasi inutile. Ma nella sua inutilità è totalmente vero.
Ho letto delle critiche, delle accuse di razzismo, in un periodo in cui tutto è diventato censurabile, persino le fiabe, forse ci si dimentica di inquadrare il romanzo nel periodo storico in cui è stato scritto. Negli anni cinquanta, duante la seconda guerra mondiale, leggere due commenti sugli indigeni dell'isola in cui il protagonista è ststo spedito dall'esercito o sui giapponesi con cui erano in conflitto può dare fastidio, ma non può inficiare la qualità del romanzo.
Mr Smith è un signor nessuno, se si fosse chiamato signor Rossi sarebbe stato lo stesso.
Un giorno si guarda allo specchio e si vede per quel che è realmente. Inizia ad approfondire se stesso e così la sua vita interiore prende il sopravvento.
Il suo è un diario, una memoria storica che lo tiene in vita e gli consente di avere uno scopo in un periodo in cui ha bisogno di mettere nero su bianco la sua esistenza.
A distanza di anni il mondo non è poi tanto cambiato, leggendo scopriamo che potremmo esserci noi al di là dello specchio. Quello che scrive è banalmente semplice e disarmante, quasi inutile. Ma nella sua inutilità è totalmente vero.
September 1, 2017
Poor Mr. Smith. He is dissatisfied with his life. His wife doesn't understand him. (It takes 30 pages or so for him to expose the depths of her shallowness.) His life as an insurance agent pays well, but leaves his soul impoverished. In about 133 pages, he starts fantasizing about killing her, when he stops mansplaining all the ways things have gone rotten since heroic pioneer days. After about 260 pages, he gets around to an affair. Supposedly the event changes him, but he seems as insufferable as ever. Finally, he's "accidentally" killed during the war by one of his soldiers, who, despite being a card-carrying Ku Kluxer, and inbred half-witted Southern stereotype, does the one thing nobody else has the courage to do.
As you might suspect, this book is a mess of objectionable philosophy stirred in with a meager plot, and an unpleasant amount of out and out racism. I suspect Mr. Bromfield was enough of a name that the book editors would not touch his sacred, turgid prose, no matter how many dead horses were beaten to dust. Too bad. I can see this redone as a noir/feminist combo, where the insufferable Mr Smith meets his end in a bathtub, surprised at the end that his useless, clueless, but still bitchy wife, could do to him what he fantasized about doing to her.
Avoid.
As you might suspect, this book is a mess of objectionable philosophy stirred in with a meager plot, and an unpleasant amount of out and out racism. I suspect Mr. Bromfield was enough of a name that the book editors would not touch his sacred, turgid prose, no matter how many dead horses were beaten to dust. Too bad. I can see this redone as a noir/feminist combo, where the insufferable Mr Smith meets his end in a bathtub, surprised at the end that his useless, clueless, but still bitchy wife, could do to him what he fantasized about doing to her.
Avoid.
November 7, 2022
Dreadful beyond words, though this book does likely capture the worst of American manhood circa 1950. Racism and sexism ruled. It was especially disappointing after reading Bromfield's "Night in Bombay" which I loved. The stark difference was jarring. Sure Bombay is about colonial India, but the characters were rich and there was a timeless beauty to it. Mr. Smith, on the other hand, didn't age well, though it did capture some truths of the darker side of materialist America.
January 31, 2016
(4,5)
Wolcott Ferris es un "Señor Smith", un ciudadano medio, hombre de familia y exitoso en los negocios, que de pronto ha empezado a cuestionarse acerca de su propia vida, la de los demás, y el estado de la sociedad en que se desenvuelve.
Ya había tenido una buena experiencia con Bromfield, pero este libro resultó mejor de lo que esperaba. La historia de la novela es interesante, aunque si se analiza fríamente es poco lo que pasa. Lo importante son las reflexiones a las que arriba el protagonista (concordemos con él o no), y que pese al transcurso del tiempo podemos considerar plenamente vigentes, al menos en su mayoría. Tal vez expuesto así pareciera una novela pesada, pero el modo en que está construida (alternando dos escenarios muy trascendentes en la vida del protagonista, quien narra en primera persona) la hace sumamente amena. Eso sí, no lo recomiendo a nadie que esté con el ánimo bajo, a menos que sea algo masoquista.
Wolcott Ferris es un "Señor Smith", un ciudadano medio, hombre de familia y exitoso en los negocios, que de pronto ha empezado a cuestionarse acerca de su propia vida, la de los demás, y el estado de la sociedad en que se desenvuelve.
Ya había tenido una buena experiencia con Bromfield, pero este libro resultó mejor de lo que esperaba. La historia de la novela es interesante, aunque si se analiza fríamente es poco lo que pasa. Lo importante son las reflexiones a las que arriba el protagonista (concordemos con él o no), y que pese al transcurso del tiempo podemos considerar plenamente vigentes, al menos en su mayoría. Tal vez expuesto así pareciera una novela pesada, pero el modo en que está construida (alternando dos escenarios muy trascendentes en la vida del protagonista, quien narra en primera persona) la hace sumamente amena. Eso sí, no lo recomiendo a nadie que esté con el ánimo bajo, a menos que sea algo masoquista.
January 23, 2016
It seemed like most books I read about people in the 1950s have characters who seem to have it all together, but they're really empty on the inside and they crave for something more without knowing what it is. I feel so sorry for the people in that time and "Mr. Smith" is a prime example.
October 7, 2014
Excellent book. Interesting that human nature has not changed in 50 years.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews