2010
First Published
4.26
Average Rating
224
Number of Pages
“[A] well-edited collection . . . More than friends and less than lovers, Salter and Phelps were literary soul mates.” ― Publishers Weekly It was James Salter’s third novel, A Sport and a Pastime ―together with his film Three and a script he had written for Downhill Racer ―that in 1969 prompted Robert Phelps to write a letter of admiration. Though the two writers didn’t know each other, their correspondence went on to span decades. The letters themselves are exceptionally alive, uninhibited, gossipy, touching, and brilliant. The successes of Salter and the struggles of Phelps are fully explored by the writers themselves in the kind of honest exchange only letters can divulge. With an insightful foreword by Michael Dirda, this book gives voice to a nearly forgotten figure and his friendship with a man he admired.
Avg Rating
4.26
Number of Ratings
65
5 STARS
46%
4 STARS
35%
3 STARS
17%
2 STARS
2%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
James Salter
Author · 17 books
James Salter (1925 - 2015) was a novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Salter grew up in New York City and was a career officer and Air Force pilot until his mid-thirties, when the success of his first novel (The Hunters, 1957) led to a fulltime writing career. Salter’s potent, lyrical prose earned him acclaim from critics, readers, and fellow novelists. His novel A Sport and a Pastime (1967) was hailed by the New York Times as “nearly perfect as any American fiction.”
