Synopses & Reviews
A riveting combination of fiction, journal writing, and memoir,
Gods of Tin is Salter's own story of his days as a fighter pilot in Korea.
A singular life often circles around a singular moment, an occasion when one's life in the world is defined forever and the emotional vocabulary is set. For the extraordinary writer James Salter, this moment was found in the fighter planes over Korea where, during his young manhood, he flew more than one hundred missions. As the New York Times noted, "It isn't often that a writer of superlative skills knows enough about flying to write well about it; Saint-Exupery was one; Salter is another."
The editors have gathered selections from a journal Salter kept during the Korean War, published here for the first time, and assembled selections from two novels, The Hunters and Cassada, and from the author's celebrated memoir, Burning the Days. As the editors comment in a brief introduction, "It is, as a record of the day-to-day, mission-to-mission life of a young fighter pilot, a remarkable document by any standard. But it provides as well a view into the 'crucible of a writer's beginnings, like pencil studies that precede a painting, in which the essential qualities of the artist's hand are unmistakable.'"
Review
"Packs a forceful punch....Its slimness is due in part to the author's voice, marked by brevity, and his uncanny ability to freeze a scene." Rocky Mountain News
Review
"[T]he book collocates some of the finest aviation writing of the twentieth century, otherwise hard to find, if not altogether out of print. Let us hope this book will inspire the reprinting of some of those from which it extracts." Booklist
Review
"Salter is a writer who particularly rewards those for whom reading is an intense pleasure. He is among the very few North American writers all of whose work I want to read, whose as yet unpublished books I wait for impatiently." Susan Sontag
Synopsis
A singular life often circles around a singular moment, an occasion when one's life in the world is defined forever and the emotional vocabulary set. For the extraordinary writer James Salter, this moment was contained in the fighter planes over Korea where, during his young manhood, he flew more than one hundred missions. As The New York Times noted, "It isn't often that a writer of superlative skills knows enough about flying to write well about it; Saint-Exupery was one; Salter is another."
The editors have gathered selections from a journal Salter kept during the Korean War, published here for the first time, and assembled selections from two novels, The Hunters and Cassada, and from the author's celebrated memoir, Burning the Days. As the editors comment in a brief introduction, "It is, as a record of the day-to-day, mission-to-mission life of a young fighter pilot, a remarkable document by any standard. But it provides as well a view into the 'crucible of a writer's beginnings, like pencil studies that precede a painting, in which the essential qualities of the artist's hand are unmistakable.' "
Synopsis
Selections and photographs gathered from a journal kept by the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author during the Korean War are assembled with selections from two novels, The Hunters and Cassada, and from the author's celebrated memoir, Burning the Days.
Synopsis
A singular life often circles around a singular moment, an occasion when one's life in the world is defined forever and the emotional vocabulary set. For the extraordinary writer James Salterrecipient of the PEN/Faulkner Awardthis moment was contained in the fighter planes over Korea where, during his young manhood, he flew more than one hundred missions. The editors have gathered selections and photographs from a journal Salter kept during the Korean War, published here for the first time, and assembled selections from two novels, The Hunters and Cassada, and from the author's celebrated memoir, Burning the Days. As commented in a brief introduction, "It is, as a record of the day-to-day, mission-to-mission life of a young fighter pilot, a remarkable document by any standard. But it provides as well a view into the 'crucible of a writer's beginnings, like pencil studies that precede a painting, in which the essential qualities of the artist's hand are unmistakable.'"
About the Author
James Salter is the author of six other books, including Light Years, A Sport and a Pastime, and Dusk and Other Stories, for which he was given the PEN/Faulkner Award. He is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He divides his time between New York and Colorado.