Being a pilot and a writer will always have a special consideration in literature since Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote The Little Prince. It seems to be deduced that this transit through the clouds produced an approach to inspiration or the muses.
The question is that James salter he followed in the wake of the French genius and found a literary trail where he could land with the particular imagination of those who make flying through the skies a risky profession.
Both James and Exupéry became air force pilots, a performance that meant facing the risk of being shot down by another enemy pilot alone, with little chance of getting out of the matter alive ...
There is an existentialist point in the matter ..., the way to face that fear should necessarily be internalized with a point of eccentricity. Exupéry resorted to fable, to fantasy. James Salter ended up expanding at ease about the mundane, about the transcendental vicissitudes of those little souls seen as ants ...
Literature is eccentricity, it is seeking different perspectives by contributing something new or revealing what others do not dare to express. The particular experiences can finally fill the language of emotions and sensations.
In short, both Exupéry and Salter rescued their stories from the clouds and ended up convincing millions of readers, each with their way of telling the world at 10.000 meters of altitude.
Top 3 Recommended Books by James Salter
Light years
For an air pilot, who is assumed to be attracted to adventure and risk, talking about marriage seems like the digression of a layman. It is true that this novel, written in 1975, did not seem to announce the level of commitment that the author would acquire a year later with Kay Eldredge. His previous marriage could lead to this novel disenchanted with the figure of marriage.
And yet, the sign of life as a couple that Light Years entailed would end up transforming into an upcoming and fruitful marriage. The point is that in this novel we meet Nedra and Viri, a married couple with daughters, with their social life and with their appearance as a perfect couple. But behind closed doors, James presents us with the fragility of any long-term love meeting.
Idealization gives way to mania, desire gives way to apathy. And yet, it is about pretending, even to the point where the fracture can end up breaking everything.
An intelligent narrative that leads us between dialogues and descriptions through those strange interstices of coexistence where we can be the best of us and also the worst.
The passage of time, the fleetingness of happiness, accommodation to circumstances, children. James Salter dissects the souls of some characters to discover the trick of a papier-mâché reality.
The last night
A wonderful book of stories in which James Salter gives a good account of his mastery in handling dialogue and silence. This book is a search for alchemy, for the synthesis of the most impetuous and the most everyday love.
Among diverse stories that tell us about the drives of sexual desire, love betrayal, disappointment and spite, disappointment and loneliness. And as a summary, the idea that this last concept of loneliness is basically not being able to love in the version of love that can be achieved.
Happiness is certainly an orgasm, but its short-lived effects are both frustrating and necessary. Reaching such an intense level of love that it lasted for days, months or years would end up completely distorting it.
Things exist by their opposites and in love, more than in anything else, it takes small doses of hatred to reactivate again the glorious sensation of the most explosive physical redemption. Stories that also speak of death, of its closeness as an idealized impression of love for those who are about to leave.
I don't know, a heterogeneous set of stories but which in turn offer a uniform glimpse of the will to love.
All there is
James Salter always leaves an aftertaste of autobiography. Everything that is rambling on emotions necessarily contributes a vision of the world, on the part of the author. In this case the matter is more deliberate. Philip Bowman is a pilot who decides to take other paths in his life.
Philip knows he is young and with the invincible imprint of someone who is convinced of his gifts, he seeks his place as a writer. Bowman begins working for a publishing house, but little by little we see him advance among the hedonistic and elitist New York society of culture, a mirror where the most bohemian American dream is reflected.
Philip indulges in sexual debauchery and enjoys some good years in which he is gaining prestige. Until he discovers the void, that strange sensation of caresses that are cold and of laughter that hurts when forced. So he looks for a turn for his life, he needs real love, and he gives himself to it ...
