23 Facts About James Salter

James Arnold Horowitz, better known as James Salter, his pen name and later-adopted legal name, was an American novelist and short-story writer.

James Salter won numerous literary awards for his works, including belated recognition of works originally criticized at the time of their publication.

James Salter's father was a real estate broker and businessman who had graduated from West Point in November 1918 and served in the Corps of Engineers with both Army and Army Reserve.

James Salter graduated in 1945 after just three years, ranked 49th in general merit in his class of 852.

James Salter completed flight training during his first class year, with primary flight training at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and advanced training at Stewart Field, New York.

James Salter received his first unit assignment with the 6th Troop Carrier Squadron, stationed at Nielson Field, the Philippines; Naha Air Base, Okinawa; and Tachikawa Air Base, Japan.

James Salter was promoted to 1st lieutenant in January 1947.

James Salter was assigned to the headquarters of Tactical Air Command at Langley AFB, Virginia, in March 1950, where he remained until volunteering for assignment in the Korean War.

James Salter arrived in Korea in February 1952 after transition training in the F-86 Sabre with the 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine.

James Salter was assigned to the 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, a renowned MiG-hunting unit.

James Salter flew more than 100 combat missions between February 12 and August 6,1952, and was credited with a MiG-15 victory on July 4,1952.

The film rights to the novel allowed James Salter to leave active duty with the US Air Force in 1957 to write full-time.

James Salter moved back to New York with his family.

Eldredge and James Salter co-authored a book entitled Life Is Meals: A Food Lover's Book of Days, in 2006.

James Salter took up film writing, first as a writer of independent documentary films, winning a prize at the Venice Film Festival in collaboration with television writer Lane Slate.

In interviews with his biographer, William Dowie, James Salter described his enthusiasm for Isaac Babel, Andre Gide and Thomas Wolfe.

James Salter once described his own writing as "succinct" and "compressed".

James Salter often used short sentences and sentence fragments, switching between first and third persons, as well as between the present and past tenses.

James Salter's dialogue is attributed only when necessary to keep clear who is speaking, otherwise he allows the reader to draw inferences from tone and motivation.

James Salter published a collection of short stories, Dusk and Other Stories in 1988.

James Salter was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2000.

James Salter died on June 19,2015, in Sag Harbor, New York.

James Salter's friend and fellow author, the Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Ford, said, "It is an article of faith among readers of fiction that James Salter writes American sentences better than anybody writing today," in his Introduction to Light Years for Penguin Modern Classics.