"Two Lonely Men" is an unpublished

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...

Plot

The story is told from the point of view of a

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

who is a professional short story writer now working as a

Morse Code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

Instructor. The setting is an

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

base in Georgia, where the narrator details the developing friendship of two officers. One, a Captain, has a wife who visits and subsequently describes an affair she had while he was stationed. At the close of the story, the

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

approaches the narrator and tells him he has requested a transfer, because he now does not like the other officer.

History

The story was written in 1944, while Salinger was still in the service. A 27-page, dated

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

is available at Princeton University's

Firestone Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...

, part of the library's ''Story'' magazine archives.Salinger, Jerome David. Manuscript for "Two Lonely Men." Department of Rare Books and Special Collections: Princeton Firestone Library. Archives of Story Magazine and Story Press, 1931-1999: Finding Aid. Box 14, Folder 25

/ref> Copies of the story are not permitted.

References

Short stories by J. D. Salinger {{J. D. Salinger