Total War Diary
From Bananafish
| Total War Diary | |
|---|---|
| Status | Unpublished |
| Original publication source | Story magazine |
| Original publication date | Early, 1944 |
| Salinger.org rating | |
| Previous | Next |
| What Got Into Curtis in the Woodshed | Boy Standing in Tennessee |
Total War Diary is said to be the same story as The Children's Echelon. It was referenced in a letter to Whit Burnett of May 1944 as being a new 6,000 word work in diary form by an 18 year old girl. Its whereabouts are unknown today, though reports have said it is in the Firestone Library. Although Donald Fiene claimed that The Children's Echelon was sold to Stag magazine in 1942, it is likely that he was not correct and that the story dates from later than that.
Account
26 pp. of double-spaced typescript with the by-line J.D. Salinger
A two-part story in the form of eleven diary entries by Bernice Herndon with the first entry on January 12, her 18th birthday, and the last on March 25 of the same but unspecified year. With the war in the background, Bernice changes her opinion about almost everything she mentions--her friends, family, and the war. In one entry, Bernice, like Holden Caulfield, mentions that she loved to watch children at the merry-go-round.
Sources
- Ian Hamilton (1988). In Search of J. D. Salinger. Random House. ISBN/ASIN 0394534689.
- The Unpublished Stories of JD SalingerDead Caulfields. Retrieved on September 12, 2006.
