Personal Notes of an Infantryman

An example of Salinger’s early single-page “patriotic bromides” published by Collier’s during WWII, the story includes “a cute-to-sickening” surprise ending. It was part of the magazine's "Short Short Story" series illustrated by Warren Baumgartner. A “glib comedy,” the story contrasts with Salinger’s more serious-minded tales dealing with men and boys at war, such as “Soft-Boiled Sergeant” (1944).^[5]

Written as an expedient to sustain his early success as a published writer, Salinger, aware of “which magazines like what kind of writing,” formulated “Personal Notes of an Infantryman” to make it particularly appealing to Collier’s editors: “A neatly predictable O. Henry ending…imbued with patriotism and a warmth toward the military.”^[6] Biographer Kenneth Slawenski reports on Salinger’s own appraisal of the story:

“Infantryman” was deployed by Salinger only as a literary filler, to plug the gap between his period of literary inaction and the completion of more discerning works. It was certainly not a story that Salinger bragged about.^[7]

• Slawenski, Kenneth. 2010. J. D. Salinger: A Life. Random House, New York. ISBN 978-1-4000-6951-4
• Wenke, John. 1991. J. D. Salinger: A Study of the Short Fiction. Twaynes Studies in Short Fiction, Gordon Weaver, General Editor. Twayne Publishers, New York. ISBN 0-8057-8334-2