Smith’s anti-modernization philosophies weren't just for the comic page; he lived them. He and his family eventually moved away from the city to a highly remote area in the wooded foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. Their home was located miles from the nearest paved road, often leaving them completely isolated by heavy snow during winters. Philosophical Influences As noted in the passage, Smith was an avid, deep reader who studied prominent 20th-century intellectual figures. He frequently referenced psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, using Fromm's theories on the anxious, detached, and "schizoid" nature of American life to fuel the dialogue of his characters.
He worried, in print, about children losing their "dreaming innocence" to the rat race. And then he would get up the next morning and draw the strip again, because, as he admitted, the martini wouldn't keep him quiet.
