Salter, James - Salter, James 1925–
Salter, James 1925–
Salter is an American novelist.
James Salter's title, A Sport and a Pastime, is taken from the Koran: "Remember that the life of this world is but a sport and a pastime…." His novel attempts to substantiate this view in two senses: the sport and pastime of the lovers are traced diligently and delicately, and their story, under the eye of heaven, is seen as a sport of fate. A modern equivalent for "fate" might be the subconscious that predetermines the end of the story while the conscious is engaged in the sport….
The material is sometimes clinical, but the effect is not, because of the Doppelgaenger technique and the tone of Salter's writing. For the first, possibly Salter was trying to build a profane Trinity, a body of Three, but the immediate effect is simply that the joy of the two lovers—the doomed joy—is so great that it spills over and poignantly envelops an empathic friend.
As for the...
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