Set in provincial france in the 1960s, james salters a sport and a pastime is the intensely carnal storypart shocking reality, part feverish dream of a love affair between a footloose yale dropout and a young french girl. A sport an d a pas time by james salter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The book follows an american college drop out in france, named philip dean and an eighteen year old french girl. The film traces writer james salters lifelong love affair with france, unforgettably expressed in his 1967 masterpiece, a sport and a pastime. James salters title, a sport and a pastime, is taken from the koran. Fiction survives through minor novels like this one. What is a summary of a sport and a pastime by james salter. The fifth in a series of essays on reading as personal experience. A sport an d a pas time is a short novel first published in 1967 by james salter. His novel attempts to substantiate this view in two.
Uncommonly good collectible and rare books from uncommonly good booksellers. Together they burn in an everyday but stunningly sensual paradise. I bought my copy many years ago, after falling in love with his story collections and enjoying light years, probably his bestknown novel. As a adjective sport is suitable for use in athletic activities or for casual or informal wear. Animation, sport and culture is a wideranging study of both sport and animated films.
A sport and a pastime with an overdrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for. He lifts the chain of conscience and finds personality locked against change by the past. A sport and a pastime by james salter librarything. Fragments of the novel, read by the late author, reynolds price, are intercut with ralph gibsons photographs, conversations with robert redford for whom salter wrote the screenplay. He goes beyond the animalistic use of human beings. A sport and a pastime is a young uppermiddle class american mans dreamy journey through postwar france, as he drinks in the landscape and culture, and, well, gets it on with a french shopgirl. Click to read more about a sport an d a pas time by james salter. Summaries should be more than 239 characters, but still reasonably brief. Publishers summary as nearly perfect as any american fiction i know, is how reynolds price the new york times described this classic that has been a favorite of readers, both here and in europe, for almost forty years. Skip to main navigation skip to main navigation skip to search skip to search skip to content.
Shorter summaries may be rerouted to the outlines list. A sport an d a pas time, though not obscure, has a whiff of the occult about it, with its hazy voyeuristic sex and a title taken from the koran. He begins a mismatched affair with a young shop girl named annemarie. A sport and a pastime is a novel by the american writer james salter. As verbs the difference between sport and pastime is that sport is to amuse oneself, to play while pastime is obsolete to sport. Reading this book fifty years later, im testament to that statement.
A sport and a pastime is a seductive classic that established james salters reputation as one of the finest writers of our time. Plot outlines should be no longer than 239 characters. Sparknotes are the most helpful study guides around to literature, math, science, and more. Set in provincial france in the 1960s, james salters a sport and a pastime is the intensely carnal story. A sport an d a pas time by james salter abebooks passion for books. It might not be for everyone, the great, scarring thing you could not get your arms around, but it was there for him. A sport and a pastime by james salter, paperback barnes. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers all about a sport an d a pas time by james salter. A sport and a pastime book hennepin county library.
Depending on the study guide provider sparknotes, shmoop, etc. With a jagged, faintly hemingwayesque style, he wanders into the murk of reality and appearance. A sport and a pastime audiobook james salter audible. A sport and a pastime is a pretty good definition of how a certain kind of man treats women in relationships. Since its publication in 1967, during the decade of sexual revolution, a sport and a pastime has set the standard not only for eroticism in fiction, but for the principal organ of literature the imagination.
He published another novel, a sport an d a pas time 1967, while working as a screenwriter. Released in 1967, james salters a sport and a pastime, which has become something of a cult novel, doesnt seem to fit in with the summer of love ethos of its time. Most of the details, though, have long since been transformed or rearranged to bring others of them forward. James salter, quote from a sport and a pastime there are men who seem to have seized the trunk of life, and he was one of them. Philip dean, a footloose yale dropout, is touring provincial france and sometimes paris in a borrowed, once elegant car. A sport and a pastime book king county library system. A sport and a pastime lyricizes the flesh and france with the same ardent intensity. This ebook features an illustrated biography of james salter including rare photos from the authors personal collection. Find sample tests, essay help, and translations of shakespeare. The cycle of meeting, flirting and fucking forms the books.
They are merely discolored a bit by time, like coins in the pocket of a forgotten suit. Philip dean is an american whom the narrator first meets at a party in paris with the wheatlands. The more clearly one sees this world, the more one is obliged to pretend it does not exist. Beautiful and haunting, a sport and a pastime is one of the first great american novels to speak frankly of human desire and the yearning for passion free of guilt and shame. James salter authored numerous books, including the novels all that is, solo faces, light years, a sport and a pastime, the arm of flesh revised as cassada, and the hunters. As in his bestknown book, a sport and a pastime, the act of love forms a recurrent rite of cleansing and reinvigoration in all that is. Salter chronicles a love affair between a young shopgirl and an american college dropout against the backdrop of provincial france. Salter, who did earlier books, one dealing with the mystique of flight, now transfers to the fever of the flesh in what is as erotic a novel as any since henry miller even where it is as lyrical as it is lubricious as seen or rather imagined by an older. This is a brilliant, probing and very subtle depiction of the relationship between a rich american boy and a poor french girl without prospects.
Recently, for the fourth or fifth time in my life, i started trying to read james salters a sport an d a pas time. Pdf a sport and a pastime download full pdf book download. This study guide consists of approximately 33 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of a sport an d a pas time. Other articles where a sport an d a pas time is discussed. Set in provincial france in the 1960s, it is the intensely carnal story part shocking. Set in provincial france in the 1960s, it is the intensely carnal story part. A sport and a pastime established james salters reputation as one of the. Remember that the life of this world is but a sport and a pastime. While it partakes of some of the boho freespiritedness of the beats and henry millers raw sexuality, it also is a more crafted, poignant work in which the sex and the freedom. There is the seen and the unseenand pages that burn with a rare intensity. As nearly perfect as any american fiction i know, is.