Last Night - Stories

Zusatztext 69192800 Informationen zum Autor James Salter is the author of the novels Solo Faces , Light Years , A Sport and a Pastime , The Arm of Flesh (revised as Cassada ), and The Hunters ; the memoirs Gods of Tin and Burning the Days ; and the collection Dusk and Other Stories , which won the 1989 PEN/Faulkner Award. He lives in Colorado and on Long Island.Julia Blackburn is the author of several other works of nonfiction, including Charles Waterton and The Emperor’s Last Island , and of two novels, The Book of Color and The Leper’s Companions , both of which were short-listed for the Orange Prize. Her most recent book, Old Man Goya , was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Blackburn lives in England and Italy. Klappentext Last Night is a spellbinding collection of stories about passion-by turns fiery and subdued, destructive and redemptive, alluring and devastating. These ten powerful stories portray men and women in their most intimate moments. A lover of poetry is asked by his wife to give up what may be his most treasured relationship. A book dealer is forced to face the truth about his life. And in the title story, a translator assists his wife's suicide, even as he performs a last act of betrayal. James Salter's assured style and emotional insight make him one of our most essential writers Leseprobe Comet Philip married Adele on a day in June. It was cloudy and the wind was blowing. Later the sun came out. It had been a while since Adele had married and she wore white: white pumps with low heels, a long white skirt that clung to her hips, a filmy blouse with a white bra underneath, and around her neck a string of freshwater pearls. They were married in her house, the one she’d gotten in the divorce. All her friends were there. She believed strongly in friendship. The room was crowded. — I, Adele, she said in a clear voice, give myself to you, Phil, completely as your wife . . . Behind her as best man, somewhat oblivious, her young son was standing, and pinned to her panties as something borrowed was a small silver disc, actually a St. Christopher’s medal her father had worn in the war; she had several times rolled down the waistband of her skirt to show it to people. Near the door, under the impression that she was part of a garden tour, was an old woman who held a little dog by the handle of a cane hooked through his collar. At the reception Adele smiled with happiness, drank too much, laughed, and scratched her bare arms with long showgirl nails. Her new husband admired her. He could have licked her palms like a calf does salt. She was still young enough to be good-looking, the final blaze of it, though she was too old for children, at least if she had anything to say about it. Summer was coming. Out of the afternoon haze she would appear, in her black bathing suit, limbs all tan, the brilliant sun behind her. She was the strong figure walking up the smooth sand from the sea, her legs, her wet swimmer’s hair, the grace of her, all careless and unhurried. They settled into life together, hers mostly. It was her furniture and her books, though they were largely unread. She liked to tell stories about DeLereo, her first husband—Frank, his name was—the heir to a garbage-hauling empire. She called him Delerium, but the stories were not unaffectionate. Loyalty—it came from her childhood as well as the years of marriage, eight exhausting years, as she said—was her code. The terms of marriage had been simple, she admitted. Her job was to be dressed, have dinner ready, and be fucked once a day. One time in Florida with another couple they chartered a boat to go bonefishing off Bimini. — We’ll have a good dinner, DeLereo had said happily, get on board and turn in. When we get up we’ll have passed the Gulf Stream. It began tha...

Product details

• Authors: James Salter
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 14.03.2006
• EAN: 9781400078417
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-7841-7
• No. of pages: 132
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 204 mm x 9 mm
• Series: Vintage International; Vintage International
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature