# Mr. Barbecue-Smith — Crome Yellow character guide

> Mr. Barbecue-Smith in Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Barbecue - Smith, VI Mr. Barbecue - Smith, Smith

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

A beaming inspirational author who measures genius in words-per-hour and offers Denis the secret of Inspiration, free of charge.

## Who they are

Mr. Barbecue-Smith is the visiting literary celebrity at Crome, a man whose expansive self-satisfaction fills any room he warms himself in. He corners the young, uncertain Denis with unsolicited advice, boasting of writing three thousand eight hundred words in two and a half hours and insisting that Inspiration, not grind, is the writer's true engine. His comic confidence and ready-made formulas embody the facile certainties the novel quietly mocks, making him a perfect foil for Denis's anxious, self-doubting ambitions.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as an author of inspirational books; invited for the next weekend.

### [Mr. Barbecue-Smith Arrives](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se/chapters/vi)

Arrives at Crome, boasts about his automatic writing method and high word count, patronizes Denis.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se/chapters/viii)

Attempts hearty conversation about cricket, reacts to Priscilla's mention of the next world, and misquotes Shakespeare while declining church.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se/chapters/xi)

Has just departed; a faint smell of burning oil commemorates his recent exit.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se/characters/barbecue_smith
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/crome_yellow_se/characters