SOURCE: Dowie, William. “Short Story Writer (Dusk and Other Stories).” In James Salter, pp. 94-109. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998.

In the following essay, Dowie considers the main thematic concerns of Salter's short stories.

More than a decade after the publication of his initial novel, Salter's short story “Am Strand von Tanger” appeared in the pages of the Paris Review (Fall 1968). He had written a few stories before, but this was admittedly his first one of any merit, and it was the first to be accepted in print. George Plimpton, editor of the review since its founding in 1953 by young Americans Peter Matthiessen and Harold Humes, had published A Sport and a Pastime under the Paris Review imprint, so the quarterly—which by 1968 had distinguished itself with its fiction, poetry, and interviews—seemed an ideal placement for Salter's early stories, which dealt with Americans living or traveling in Europe...