James Salter's exalted place in American letters is based largely
on the intense admiration of other writers, but his work resonates
far beyond the realm of fellow craftsmen, addressing themes--youth,
war, erotic love, marriage, life abroad, friendship--that speak to
us all. Following the publication of his first novel, Salter left
behind a military career of great promise to write full-time
and--through decades of searching, exacting work--became one of
American literature's master stylists. Only months before he died,
at the age of eighty-nine, he agreed to serve as the first Kapnick
Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia, where he
composed and delivered the three lectures presented in this book
and introduced by his friend and fellow novelist, National Book
Award-winning author John Casey. Salter speaks to us here with an
easy intimacy, sharing his unceasing enchantment with the books
that made up his reading life, including works by Balzac, Flaubert,
Babel (whose prose is ""like a handful of radium""), Dreiser,
Celine, Faulkner. These talks provide an invaluable opportunity to
see the way in which a great writer reads. They also offer a candid
look at the writing life--the rejection letters, not one but two
negative reviews in the New York Times for the same book, writing
in the morning or at night and worrying about money during the long
afternoons. Salter raises the question, Why does one write? For
wealth? For admiration, or a sense of ""importance""? Confronting a
blank sheet that always offers too many choices, practicing a
vocation that often demands one write instead of live, the answer
for Salter was creating a style that captured experience, in a
world where anything not written down fades away. Kapnick
Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Lectures
General
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