Synopsis
'One of the finest American writers of his mighty generation' - Esquire
'A tour de force of erotic realism, a romantic cliffhanger' - The New York Times
The 1960s. Philip Dean, a footloose Yale dropout, is touring provincial France and sometimes Paris in a borrowed, once elegant car. He begins a mismatched affair with a young shop girl named Anne-Marie. Together they burn in an everyday but stunningly sensual paradise.
A Sport and a Pastime is a seductive classic that established James Salter’s reputation as one of the finest writers of our time. It is remarkable for its eroticism, its luminous prose and its ability to explore the boundaries between what is dreamt and what is lived, between body and soul.
Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.
Details
Reviews
“A Sport and a Pastime is as nearly perfect as any American fiction I know”Reynolds Price
“James Salter's writing has always provoked in me a kind of evangelical admiration. It is sheer brute magic. His prose is exquisite, sentences created with such acuity and efficacy it seems he re-forges language itself, makes it more purposeful and beautiful”Sarah Hall
“A great literary novel but also the most erotic book ever written”Jonathan Dee, Financial Times
“Robert Frost said that the hope of any poet is to lodge a few poems so deep they couldn't be dislodged, and James Salter has done that again and again. He has become an indelible presence in our literature”Tobias Wolff, Observer
