author
Clifford Smyth
1866–1943
A longtime literary editor with a foot in both journalism and fiction, he is best remembered today for a vivid 1918 adventure novel that sends readers deep beneath the Andes. His career also placed him close to the heart of New York’s early twentieth-century book world.
1 Audiobook
The Gilded Man: A Romance of the Andes
by Clifford Smyth
About the author
Born in 1866 and dying in 1943, Clifford Smyth was an American editor, critic, and author. Reliable reference sources describe him as editor of The New York Times Book Review from 1913 to 1922, a role that put him in the middle of the literary conversation of his day.
Smyth also wrote fiction. The work most often associated with him now is The Gilded Man: A Romance of the Andes (1918), a speculative adventure about a hidden Incan world beneath the Andes. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes the novel for its "lost race" premise and its blend of exploration, romance, and fantastical technology.
Archival descriptions from the New York Public Library present him as a literary critic and editor whose papers include correspondence with major writers such as William Dean Howells, Percy MacKaye, Richard Le Gallienne, and Upton Sinclair. That surviving record suggests a writer deeply connected to the publishing and reviewing culture of his time.