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A Sport and a Pastime

by James Salter

A love affair in 1960s provincial France

Critically Recognized
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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Reynolds Price praised it as “as nearly perfect as any American fiction I know”

    Reynolds Price described the book as nearly perfect American fiction.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A love affair in 1960s provincial France

Set in provincial France during the 1960s, James Salter’s novel centers on an affair between a young French woman and a footloose Yale dropout. The description frames the relationship through a tension between what is seen and what remains unseen, and between lived reality and feverish dream. Its focus on intimacy and perception gives the story a compact frame: a love affair viewed not only as an experience, but also as something imagined and observed.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in literary fiction set in 1960s France.
  • For readers drawn to stories about intimate relationships and the boundary between reality and imagination.

Themes

Love and intimacyReality and imaginationPerception and the unseen1960s provincial France

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"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. Set in provincial France in the 1960s, James Salter's A Sport and a Pastime is the intensely carnal story--part shocking reality, part feverish dream --of a love affair between a footloose Yale dropout and a young French girl. There is the seen and the unseen--and pages that burn with a rare intensity.
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Customer reviews

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Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.