Salter, James (1925-2015), was an American author known for his novels, short stories, and nonfiction. Critics praised Salter as one of the finest stylists in modern American literature. He also wrote screenplays for motion pictures.
Salter graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1945 and served as a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot until he left the military in 1957. He gained recognition for his first two novels, both with war themes. The Hunters (1956) deals with an American fighter pilot during the Korean War (1950-1953). His second novel, The Arm of Flesh (1961), is set in Europe following World War II (1939-1945). Salter revised both novels, which were reissued about 40 years after original publication, The Hunters in 1997 and The Arm of Flesh (retitled Cassada) in 2000.
Perhaps Salter’s most admired novel is A Sport and a Pastime (1967), which portrays a romance between a Yale University dropout and an 18-year-old French girl. Light Years (1975) describes the gradual decline of a marriage in a suburb of New York City. Solo Faces (1979, revised 1988) deals with mountain climbing. All That Is (2013) follows the life of an American book editor from the end of World War II through the remainder of the century.
Salter’s short stories have been collected in Dusk and Other Stories (1988) and Last Night (2005). His nonfiction includes the memoir Burning the Days: Recollection (1997); There & Then: The Travel Writings of James Salter (2005); and Life Is Meals: A Food Lover’s Book of Days (2006), written with his wife, Kay Salter. James Salter also wrote the screenplay for Downhill Racer (1969), starring the American actor Robert Redford.
James Salter was born on June 10, 1925, in Passaic, New Jersey. His real name was James Arnold Horowitz. He used James Salter as a pen name and later changed it to his legal name. In addition to earning a B.S. degree from the U.S. Military Academy in 1945, Salter received an M.A. degree from Georgetown University in 1950. He died in Sag Harbor, New York, on June 19, 2015.
