A Sport and a Pastime (Modern Library)

"A Sport and a Pastime is as nearly perfect as any American fiction I know " Reynolds Price wrote of James Salters 1967 novel that tells of the mismatched love affair between Phillip Dean a Yale dropout adrift in Europe and Anne-Marie Costallat a young French shopgirl. An erotic tour de force licentious yet pure it is also a hymn to provincial France and has been admired and quoted from since its first publication. Its stunning knowledge and insight have the power to change lives. It brings a kind of splendor to the life that refuses to bow to conven- tion or mores and like Cavafys poems evokes the illicit in a way that endows it with an astonishing beauty. Brilliantly written and overwhelming in its effect it remains a triumph on every level.