SOURCE: A review of “Mr. Wakefield's Tales.” The New York Times Book Review n.s. (24 May 1931).

In the following review, the critic compares Wakefield's Imagine a Man in a Box unfavorably to the works of Saki and A. E. Coppard.

In Mr. Wakefield's previous books of short stories he was astute enough to concern himself exclusively with the realm of the occult and displayed considerable skill in that chosen field. In his new collection [Imagine a Man in a Box] only two stories of the thirteen are based on the supernatural, and it must be stated at the outset that this shift in emphasis is an unhappy one for the author's reputation.

These slight sketches vary in subject-matter from modern love problems, unexplained homicides and hallucinations to a care-free excursion into sheer extravaganza. The title story, a tale of twentieth-century advertising technique called “The Swimease,” and a whimsical...