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Unseen Edith Wharton short story is published more than a century later
The Men Who Saved the World, the Pulitzer winner’s lost manuscript found in Yale archives, appears in Strand magazine
TL;DR
- A never-before-published short story by Edith Wharton, "The Men Who Saved the World," has been released.
- The story was discovered in the author's archives at Yale University and appears in Strand magazine.
- Written no earlier than July 1918, it is set during a dinner party in a French chateau at the end of WWI.
- The narrative contrasts the wealthy residents' return to pre-war normalcy with the nearby reality of war.
- A key character is Milly Arden, a young American nurse who grapples with the horrors of war.
- The story's themes of societal denial and the lingering trauma of conflict are noted as relevant to today's global events.
- Isabelle Parsons, a Wharton scholar, previously analyzed the manuscript in 2023.