Conversations with James Salter

James Salter (1925-2015) has been known throughout his career as a writer’s writer, acclaimed by such literary greats as Susan Sontag, Richard Ford, John Banville, and Peter Matthiessen for his lyrical prose, his insightful and daring explorations of sex, and his examinations of the inner lives of women and men.

Conversations with James Salter collects interviews published from 1972 to 2014 with the award-winning author of The Hunters, A Sport and a Pastime, Light Years, and All That Is. Gathered here are his earliest interviews following acclaimed but moderately selling novels, conversations covering his work as a screenwriter and award-winning director, and interviews charting his explosive popularity after publishing All That Is, his first novel after a gap of thirty-four years. These conversations chart Salter’s progression as a writer, his love affair with France, his military past as a fighter pilot, and his lyrical explorations of gender relations.

The collection contains interviews from Sweden, France, and Argentina appearing for the first time in English. Included as well are published conversations from the United States, Canada, and Australia, some of which are significantly extended versions, giving this collection an international scope of Salter’s wide-ranging career and his place in world literature.

Jennifer Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais, Louisiana natives now living in Australia, coedited Novel Voices: 17 Award-Winning Novelists on How to Write, Edit, and Get Published. Their work has appeared in Tin House, Glimmer Train Stories, The Kenyon Review, and Brick. Jennifer Levasseur coedited (with Mary A. McCay) Walker Percy’s ＂The Moviegoer＂ at Fifty: New Takes on an Iconic American Novel. Kevin Rabalais is author of the award-winning novel The Landscape of Desire. Their literary website, www.sacredtrespasses.com, features interviews, essays, photography, reviews, and original new work.