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Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life Hardcover – Deckle Edge, August 22, 2023
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"Simply, a masterpiece...Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full." —Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of Horse
At the end of summer 2017, Anna Funder found herself at a moment of peak overload. Family obligations and household responsibilities were crushing her soul and taking her away from her writing deadlines. She needed help, and George Orwell came to her rescue.
"I’ve always loved Orwell," Funder writes, "his self-deprecating humour, his laser vision about how power works, and who it works on." So after rereading and savoring books Orwell had written, she devoured six major biographies tracing his life and work. But then she read about his forgotten wife, and it was a revelation.
Eileen O’Shaughnessy married Orwell in 1936. O’Shaughnessy was a writer herself, and her literary brilliance not only shaped Orwell’s work, but her practical common sense saved his life. But why and how, Funder wondered, was she written out of their story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder re-creates the Orwells’ marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War in London. As she peeks behind the curtain of Orwell’s private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer—and what it is to be a wife.
A breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the twentieth century, Wifedom speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past. Genre-bending and utterly original, it is an ode to the unsung work of women everywhere.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication dateAugust 22, 2023
- Dimensions6.65 x 1.39 x 9.53 inches
- ISBN-100593320689
- ISBN-13978-0593320686
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A marvelous book . . . I just loved it all, and have a permanently marked-up, dog-eared copy on my shelf for the next generation." —Tom Hanks
"Funder is a boundary-breaking, risk-taking writer whose previous books synthesized memoir, fact and imagination to impressive effect. . . . At her best, Ms. Funder shows that radical compassion—which is not the same as forgiveness—will move one closer to understanding, in marriage and biography, every time." —Donna Rifkind, The Wall Street Journal
"With the precision of a historian, Funder cobbles together scant details to reconstruct a life. And with the imaginative force of a novelist, she speculates in clearly sign-posted moments on what that life was like. . . .For the first time, in this book, Eileen is given a voice — her voice. . . Wifedom is spectacular achievement of both scholarship and pure feeling." —Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times
"A brilliant, creative hybrid of life writing, feminist polemic and literary criticism, which upends the way we read. . . . A dashing addition to a genre of books that bring out of obscurity the women (and occasional man) behind famous writers and artists." —Susan Wyndham, The Guardian (Australia)
"Radical. . . . Funder does a virtuoso performance on the theme, adding personal memoir, some fictional reconstructions and a glittering sense of purpose. . . . [She] squeezes every drop from the sources, to make Eileen real. . . . Funder stresses that she has no wish to “cancel” Orwell, a writer she finds inspiring. Her aim is rather to rescue Eileen and other women from having been canceled themselves.” –Sarah Bakewell, The New York Times Book Review
"[Wifedom] dwells imaginatively upon six letters. . . written by Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, and seeks to liberate her from his shadow — a task that also involves reassessing him . . . . Wifedom is radical in its outlook and distinguished by a creative writer’s imaginative insights. It is composed in elegant, mournful prose that occasionally froths into indignation at the lot of this “invisible worker” and “invisible warrior”. . . . It is a spellbinding achievement." —Jason Harding, Financial Times
"Electrifying. . . . a genre-melding hybrid that allows Eileen’s likeness to be partially recovered through her own words and the testimonies of those who remembered her, as well as reimagined in fictional passages to flesh out the gaps in the record. . . . Wifedom is a vital portrait of a woman whose unseen work was instrumental in the creation of books that became cornerstones of 20th century literature, the extent of her contribution impossible to measure, obscured as it is by the role of 'wife'." —Stephanie Merritt, Observer (UK)
"Now Anna Funder’s fascinating, furious, inventive biography of Eileen takes us more immersively into the Orwell’s world. And Funder is a formidable writer for the job. . . . In Wifedom she blends fiction, biography and autobiography to bring Eileen vividly alive on the page." —Alice O'Keeffe, The Times (UK)
"Elegantly and imaginatively (resurrects) Eileen." —The Economist
"Audaciously brilliant." —Jessie Thompson, Independent (UK)
"In this rattlingly fierce book, Anna Funder sets out to unmask the “wicked magic trick” by which Eileen O’Shaughnessy Blair has been made to disappear…readers will be simply thrilled – and shaken – by this passionately partisan act of literary reparation." —Sunday Times (UK)
"An extraordinary blend of forensic historical detective work and evocative fiction, as well as snatches of memoir. It not only writes O’Shaughnessy back into the story but also questions how far we’ve really come in terms of gender equality. To read about O’Shaughnessy is to fall in love with her." —Radio Times (UK)
"Anna Funder is a premier-league writer who can roll fiction, reportage, criticism and memoir into glinting prose, her sentences like handheld treasures you keep turning over, admiring for their graceful contours and crafted precision." —Marina Benjamin, The Spectator
★"Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s first wife, takes center stage in this potent biography. . . . Stylistic flourishes enhance the account, most notably the novelistic interludes interspersing Funder’s narration with first-person passages drawn from O’Shaughnessy’s letters that recreate scenes from her life. . . . Full of keen psychological insight and eloquent prose, this shines." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ "By dint of extensive research and literary daring, Funder retrieves Eileen from the shadows in a provocative mix of facts and “a fiction that tries not to lie,” using her remarkable subject's vivid letters as prompts for imagined scenes that fill the maddening gaps in Orwell’s autobiographical accounts and those of his biographers. Eileen emerges as a brilliant, funny, resourceful, stoic, hard-working Oxford graduate. . . . Laced with personal reflections and charged with a searing critique of the patriarchy and its smothering of women's lives and legacies, Funder's gripping and insightful portrait of the hidden Eileen Orwell is incandescent." —Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
★ "An electrifying biography of George Orwell’s first wife. . . . [Wifedom] is not a traditional biography but rather a pastiche of Eileen’s letters to her friend Norah Symes, Funder’s invented scenes of the Orwells’ lives, and a first-person account of Funder’s own life as the mother of teenage daughters as the “revelations of #MeToo erupt,” a time of “unspeakable truths.” Eileen is a worthy subject in her own right, but the author ably depicts the balance of power between the Orwells, particularly the way George wrote Eileen out of the narrative. . . . Funder creates a convincing, vivid portrait of Eileen as an irreplaceable font of unpaid labor for George. . . . Daring in both form and content, Funder’s book is a nuanced, sophisticated literary achievement. . . . A sharp, captivating look at a complicated relationship and a resurrection of a vital figure in Orwell’s life." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A truly wonderful biography. . . Anna Funder has written another brilliant human portrait." —Claire Tomalin
"Wonderful, unexpected and exciting from beginning to end." —Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette: The Journey
"A strikingly original study that casts Orwell in new light. Deeply perceptive, it is a testament to forgotten wives of famous men everywhere." —Julia Boyd, author of A Village in the Third Reich
"Wifedom is both an immovable and an irresistible book, an object and a force . . . another great and important narrative of oppression and covert suppression." —Michael Hofmann, Australian Book Review
"George Orwell’s first wife emerges vividly from Anna Funder’s new book . . . welcome and necessary, returning life to a woman who was gifted, vivid, complex and highly intelligent, who gave up her own ambitions in the furtherance of her husband’s." —Geordie Williamson, Weekend Australian
"Funder is the perfect writer to integrate Orwell’s legacy. She, too, has devoted her writing life to the subject of surviving tyranny." —The Conversation (Australia)
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Product details
- Publisher : Knopf (August 22, 2023)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593320689
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593320686
- Item Weight : 1.37 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.65 x 1.39 x 9.53 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #140,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #549 in Author Biographies
- #1,203 in Women's Studies (Books)
- #1,687 in Women's Biographies
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I would love to have known her, though of course she died before I was born. Her intelligence, thoughtfulness, depth of feeling, and vivacity shine. As all her friends did, I wish she’d had an easier time of it in her marriage.
A searing indictment of patriarchy. George Orwell certainly epitomizes its sense of entitlement and privilege to the full.
More specifically, the contents of the book include (I) Wifedom, A Counterfiction, (II) Invisible Warrior, (III) Invisible Worker, (IV) Happy Ending , (V) Afterlife and Coda. There are also Notes, Image Credits, a Bibliography, and Acknowledgements. The book explains how author Anna Funder came to be interested in Eileen Blair, what she uncovered about her life, relationship with her husband and to his writing; she also puts this life in context of that of today’s women like herself.
In addition to the background on Mrs. Orwell (Blair), what stood out for me were the many unsung ways she assisted her husband’s career. It was a revelation to learn that not only did Eileen win a scholarship to Oxford, publish poetry, pursue a Masters degree in Psychology, but also became an instrumental figure in the Spanish Franco resistance, and worked in the Ministries of Information and Food during World War II. When she married Orwell, as indicated throughout (e.g. like in Kindle Location 1169) she was “. . . working by day . . . doing all the housework, shopping, and cooking, . . . [along with] editing and typing his work in in the hours that are left.” In addition to supporting him as a resistance fighter and reporter, it was Eileen who was a sounding board and source of inspiration for him as an author. Thus, instead of his “calling Stalin to account for betraying the Russian Revolution and imposing a new autocracy,” she suggested that he write a novel, in fable form, that became the masterpiece of an allegory, Animal Farm. There was also the poem published before their marriage, ‘End of the Century, 1984’ that appears to have been among the influences contributing to the dystopian fiction for which he is most well-known.
While fascinated by Eileen’s strengths and contributions, I sometimes found the narrative excessive around different events and health issues. It seems such “deconstruction” and “reconstruction” from Orwell’s writing, newly discovered letters, and other sources was necessary to reveal Eileen, her plight, along with neglected aspects about the author himself. As stated early on (Location 294), much of the book uncovers that “. . . Invisible and unacknowledged, a wife is the practical and often intellectual wiring that allows the act to soar; and for it to be truly astonishing, the wires, and the wife, need to be erased . . . patriarchy allowed Orwell to benefit from his wife’s invisible work . . . “ Along the way, Funder shows Orwell’s complicity and unawareness in this effort as well as the unflattering aspects of his behavior along the way. The various aspects of this saga bring to mind books such as Manne’s “Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women,” Goldin’s “Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity” and Cade’s “Genius Makers” which indicate similar conditions for women persist even in our emerging AI age (see my reviews).
With, or likely because of this elaboration, the book enlightens not only about Eileen Blair, but about the plight of women such as her with literary artists like Orwell. Read it for a better awareness of these often-neglected dimensions of artistic and professional careers.
The title of Anna Funder's new memoir/critique of George Orwell would probably be better titled "Martyrdom" than "Wifedom". She judges Orwell by late twentieth and twenty-first century standards and takes him to task for his self-centredness in wanting a woman to fulfil the duties of a maid: cooking, cleaning, washing his smalls, a typist's attentiveness to his written notes, and a woman's availability to fulfil his sexual needs. However, he also wants the freedom to seek out and stake his claim on other sexual partners to fulfill a potency that he can no longer express with his wife.. Ms Funder is indignant about 'mid-century' men who created the conditions of domestic servitude which facilitated being able to write while their all-purpose wives were left to maintain some semblance of order. It is domestic servitude, undoubtedly, but aren't the women equally at fault for accepting this situation and enabling it? She neglects to judge his wife Eileen by the same contemporary societal standards. It's clear that she got a raw deal; but resolutely stuck by him even when his demands superseded her own-she was a talented writer and editor-and would have been justified abandoning ship.
Apportioning blame is easy when the writer has been dead for 73 years and can't speak for himself. Might not Eileen have been complicit in their domestic arrangement? She knew what he was and the life he sought when she married him. It's true that he took her for granted and didn't acknowledge her help with his writing and editing from "Homage to Catalonia', her contributions to "Animal Farm". and "1984" (Eileen wrote a dystopian poem of the same name that Funder assumes he used). Funder concludes that Eileen must have stayed because she believed in Orwell's talent but died prematurely before "Animal Farm" had been accepted by a publisher.
Marriages have rarely been equal and few are real partnerships, which is an issue that wasn't conceivable in the early twentieth century. Additionally, Orwell's tuberculosis was well-advanced, and he knew he didn't have long to live. In such circumstances, writing is a race against time to get as much on paper as possible. Arguably it would be impossible not to be self-centred. By the standards of his time, Orwell was a typical male, so applying contemporary standards to his behavior retrospectively, seems unfair. The fact that Eileen was also unwell and in pain from endometriosis meant that she had to ignore her own pain to fulfil Orwell's needs. Her tragic and premature death left him bereft and not simply in need of a replacement; the couple had adopted a baby son who constant care, so a nanny was a prerequisite.
She is full of righteous anger for women who are erased from history and not given credit for their work, but then she is guilty of the same cancellation when she mentioned her prodigiously talented teenage college daughter who unmasks the unceasing demands of patriarchy, but she doesn't name her, either. As this is a memoir of how her life has impacted by Orwell, of whom she is relentlessly critical, shouldn't she have named her daughter and give her a presence in the memoir?
Top reviews from other countries
The author tries to recreate the story of Orwell’s wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, based on letters and other biographies.
Initially, I found it difficult to get into, as the author was covering Orwell’s life, his biographers take on his life, letters to/from Eileen from different people and indeed aspects of the authors own life. But once you get into it, it was fascinating.
I was left with a complete hatred of Orwell to such an extent that I’m not sure I’ll ever read one of his books again. He is painted as a completely despicable husband. No matter how much of a perceived genius one is, doesn’t mean they should be allowed to treat people (mainly his wife) as horribly as he did.
A fascinating five star read for me.