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Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life
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39/99
Critics' Rating Index
39/99
Readers' Rating Index
88/99
Scholars' Citation Index
98/99
Volume of Reviews
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About This Book
This is the story of the marriage behind some of the most famous literary works of the 20th century —and a probing consideration of what it means to be a wife and a writer in the modern worldAt 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.
Reviews
"A brilliant, creative hybrid of life writing, feminist polemic and literary criticism, which upends the way we read ..."
"It can't have been easy to write a quasi-biography of someone who was Wited Out of the historical record, but Funder has the receipts, and she shows them."
"It has little new to tell us about Orwell but it is not about him; it is about Eileen."
"Full of keen psychological insight and eloquent prose, this shines."
"The fictionalised sections, told in the present tense, create frequent tonal shifts."
"Funder does a virtuoso performance on the theme, adding personal memoir, some fictional reconstructions and a glittering sense of purpose ..."
"Funder insists that she still loves Orwell and doesn't want to use Eileen as a cudgel to beat him with; yet often she can't seem to resist."
"A sharp, captivating look at a complicated relationship and a resurrection of a vital figure in Orwell's life."
"Making visible the extent of Eileen's influence on Orwell's life and work matters because the condition of 'wifedom,' understood as daily unpaid care work, continues to be distributed unfairly, falling mainly on women's shoulders."
"Funder takes this fascinating material and creates a peculiar hybrid."
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