Wifedom

I’ve been a fan of Orwell and his writings since early adulthood, enjoying both his novels and his non-fiction. I’m also aware of the hidden work that many women do supporting famous men.

So I was more than curious to read Anna Funder’s new book on Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy. The book did not disappoint. I loved the writing style, mixing actual letters O’Shaughnessy wrote to family and friends, with biographical information about their marriage and personal reflections by Funder about her own experience of marriage and that of all heterosexual women who put their male partner’s interests above… show more.

Anna Funder’s prize-winning novels have centered on East Germany. So perhaps it’s not surprising that she has turned to the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

But this marvelous biography is not about George Orwell; it’s about his wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy -- whom Orwell largely erased from his own writing. With just a few letters by Eileen, Funder has conducted copious research, producing a brilliant book mixing fact, fiction, history, and her own daily life.

It’s at once a meditation on how women are subordinated and wives exploited and the story of a fascinating woman. We learn about… show more.

I love this book because it’s a cracking good story, full of intriguing characters, beautifully written with passion and imagination, all illuminated by a convincing political analysis.

Anna Funder, in choosing to write a biography of the fascinating Eileen O’Shaughnessy (Orwell’s wife) was faced with the fact that her subject had left only nine letters. More significantly, major biographies of Orwell had hardly mentioned his wife at all. In the end, Funder has written the history of a person who had been systematically written out of history. 

Her text is a mix of straightforward narrative based on both primary and… show more.

In Wifedom, Anna Funder stretches traditional uses of narrative, blending non-fiction, personal memoir, biography, and fiction to research and examine the life of George Orwell’s wife Eileen.

She finds compelling evidence that Eileen was a fascinating character in herself, as well as having had a strong influence on Orwell’s life and work. However, this isn’t acknowledged by Orwell, or his peers, or the half-dozen biographers that have studied Orwell’s life.

In asking why and how Eileen has been sidelined in the historical record, Funder also begins to consider her own experiences of wifedom. The narrative blend of fact and… show more.

Wifedom is Funder's masterwork. It argues convincingly that beloved and respected author George Orwell was a misogynist cad who exploited his talented wife Eileen O’Shaugnessy and took his best ideas from her.

The book is about writing: George Orwell’s writing, and Funder’s experience of discovery as she follows the slender traces leading to her revelations from a handful of his wife’s long-hidden letters.

Orwell (his real name was Eric Arthur Blair) took everything he could get from his wife. She has been largely eliminated from his writerly history, but now thanks to Funder’s meticulous research we see the full tragedy… show more.