A Sport and a Pastime: James Salter’s Writings
by
I’m done complaining about the oil spill. It’s safe to read again and not roll your eyes. Really, I mean it.
I’ve switched off of reading NOLA books and am now reading James Salter’s “A Sport and a Pastime.” I’ve read Salter’s “Light Years,” and it is still one of my favorite books. His writing is exactly what I love: no spare words; great images and feelings conveyed with wonderful words strung together.
Here’s a description he gives of having a cup of coffee in a Paris cafe:
It’s as quiet as a doctor’s office. The tables have chairs still upturned on them. Beyond the thin curtains, a splitting cold. Perhaps it will snow. I glance at the sky. Heavy as wet rags. France is herself only in the winter, her naked self, without manners. In the fine weather, all the world can love her. . . .
Heavy as wet rags! Quiet as a doctor’s office! France as herself in winter without manners! Oh, my! How does he do it? It’s lyrical.
Then there’s this passage on how our memory works:
Certain things I remember exactly as they were. They are merely discolored a bit by time, like coins in the pocket of a forgotten suit. Most of the details, though, have long since been transformed or rearranged to bring others of them forward. Some, in fact, are obviously counterfeit; they are no less important. One alters the past to form the future. But there is a real significance to the pattern which finally appears, which resists all further change. In fact, there is the danger that if I continue to try, the whole concert of events will begin to fall apart in my hands like old newspaper, I can’t bear to think of that. The myriad past, it enters us and disappears. Except that within it, somewhere, like diamonds, exist the fragments that refuse to be consumed. Sifting through, if one dares, and collecting them, one discovers the true design.
This kind of writing knocks my socks off. It’s so lovely. I want to savor it. And so I find I can read only a few pages a day. If I rush, I don’t catch all the flavors. It’s like guzzling a fine wine: you can, but you lose more than you gain.
So I’m only on page 57. And since there’s only 191, I will continue to read Salter in the way I best enjoy it: as a sport and a pastime.
put ‘Dusk and Other Stories’ on your list. my fave.
*sending good ju-ju to your brother and his family.
.-= termite´s last blog ..hmm =-.
You’re welcome.
Really, though, it’s you who got me on to Irving a long time ago. He had one his characters in “Son of the Circus” reading “A Sport and A Pastime” while on vacation. The excerpts she read got my interest and I ordered it and “Light Years” from Amazon. Both were well worth it. I’ll have to order “Dusk and Other Stories” as Termite recommends if they don’t have it at the local book store.
.-= Pontchartrain´s last blog ..My Treme Post Part 1 =-.