"Once a Week Won’t Kill You"
Short story by J. D. Salinger
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publication
Published inStory
Publication dateNovember–December, 1944


“Once a Week Won’t Kill You” is a work of short fiction by J. D. Salinger published in the November–December 1944 issue of Story. The story is included in the 2014 Salinger collection Three Early Stories.[1][2]

Plot

The story concerns a young American soldier who is about to deploy overseas during World War II and his concern for his elderly aunt.[3]

Background

Salinger likely began writing "Once a Week Won't Kill You" while on board the military transport vessel SS George Washington. The ship would dock in Liverpool, England on January 29, 1944.[4] Biographer Kenneth Slawenski notes that the story "was laced with nostalgia for a world that Salinger was already beginning to miss and feared he might never see again."[5]

Editor Whit Burnett accepted the story for publication in October 1944 while Salinger, who spoke German and French, was on the front lines embedded as a counterintelligence officer in the 12th Infantry Regiment or the 4th Infantry Division. Story magazine published the work in November when Salinger’s unit was fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. The editors at Story magazine included a brief autobiographical sketch provided at their request by Salinger.[6]

Theme

Literary critic John Wenke describes the story as an exploration "of the ruptures war visits upon individuals and families."[7] Biographer Kenneth Slawenski discerns an ironical element associated with this particular work of short fiction:

While Salinger was enduring Hürtgen, "Once a Week Won’t Kill You" was published…The appearance of this piece, its plot trivial in comparison to his present circumstances, was tinged with irony. It must have been difficult for Salinger to recall the motivation behind the piece or even the persona who had penned it.[8]

Slawenski adds: "Of the original 3,080 regimental soldiers who went into Hürtgen, only 563 were left. For those soldiers especially, walking out of the forest alive was a victory in itself."[9]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 36
  2. ↑ Wenke, 1991 p. 166: Selected Bibliography
  3. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 79: Plot sketch, "...about a soldier leaving for service and his concern for his aunt."
  4. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 79: Salinger began writing the story "perhaps even aboard ship."
  5. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 79
  6. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 23, p. 70, p, 126: Slawenski reports that Salinger was selected for counter-intelligence because he had learned to speak German and French while visiting Europe during 1937-1938
  7. ↑ Wenke, 1991 p. 6
  8. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 115
  9. ↑ Slawenski, 2010 p. 116

Sources

  • 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
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