James Salter: A Sport and a Pastime

James Salter is an accomplished American novelist-screenwriter, although this documentary focuses on one specific work: his 1967 novel A Sport and a Pastime, which concerns the short-lived love affair between an American youth and a French student in rural Burgundy. Although the book may not be well known outside of the Paris Review readership, the reading of passages here drives the late author Reynolds Price to tears. Salter, whose expat life in France after military service hearkens back to the earlier “lost generation” that included Hemingway and Fitzgerald, revisits French villages that figured heavily in his prose. Filmmakers Edgar Howard and Sandy Gotham Meehan make a wise choice to illustrate the sensual content of A Sport and a Pastime not with gauzy sex-scene dramatizations but rather with the art photography of Ralph Gibson. Although nominal biographical information is included, the real subject remains the titular work and its impact on fans ranging from Susan Sontag to Robert Redford (who collaborated with Salter on various projects, notably the drama Downhill Racer). Collections with a heavy literary emphasis, especially in academia, should consider this, although it's perhaps too specialized for public libraries (the test being, of course, how many times Salter turns up in the catalog). A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)