Wharton in wartime

Beinecke Library

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The Beinecke Library’s archive of Edith Wharton’s papers is a gift that keeps on giving. Back in 2015, a scholar discovered an unpublished Wharton short story from the World War I era called “The Field of Honour.” Now, another previously unpublished story has been made public. “The Men Who Saved the World” takes place at a dinner party in a French chateau as the rumble of artillery can be heard in the distance. The story had been analyzed by scholars before, but it had not been published until its appearance this June in The Strand, an American literary magazine. Wharton (shown above in about 1920) lived in France from 1907 until her death in 1937, and she was awarded the nation’s Legion of Honor for her humanitarian work in the war.