Author Anna Funder delves into the untold story behind George Orwell’s wife | 7.30

George Orwell is a literary legend. His terrifying, visionary novel 1984 raged against the evils of totalitarianism; the darkly satirical Animal Farm was an allegory of the Soviet Union. Both are considered amongst the greatest political works of the twentieth century.
Only now more than 70 years later and after seven biographies, all written by men, has it become clear that he had an unacknowledged collaborator, his wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy. Now comes the feminist reappraisal in the book,’ Wifedom’ by celebrated Australian author Anna Funder.
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[@kathleenmccook8146]

I have been troubled by the lack of acknowledgement of Eileen O'Shaughnessy as well. When her brother, Dr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy, was killed at Dunkirk the biographers barely mention her grief.

[@south6bt]

Wow, it's almost like times were different in the past. I might spend my time going through all the details of all the revered women of the past and digging up all their dirty truths to harm their legacy.

[@johnf2504]

Unfortunately, Anna Funder's book "Wifedom" trashes the reputation of one of history's greatest writers, George Orwell, based on what she admits is a combination of biographical research and her own self-created fiction, as well as judging a man from 100 years ago by contemporary standards and suggesting this is his character fault. Unfortunately, people will then just take this half-truth as proof Orwell was bad.

[@jpk50]

Hope you are proud of yourself. This book shook me to the very core. Why are you so callous?

[@jamesmhango2619]

I am an Orwell reader , almost all his works. I came to know Anna through the economist in the culture section. Well the article forced me to look for Anna and she brings up a topic which is a serious issue. You can say this for people like Aristotle and Hitler. The angle she takes

[@keats6431]

This is an important and fascinating book, but it is flawed. I have no doubt that her unflattering representation of Orwell is true, and she is right to point out that his male biographers have been deliberately selective in their use of sources, but she never gets to the bottom of Eileen's character. Ultimately the reader is never offered an insight into why this intelligent and spirited woman chose to marry Orwell nor why she continued to tolerate him. The only explanation Funder offers is that patriarchy conditions women to accept their lot. This a reductionist argument and one that avoids the nuances of her subject's character. In Funder's hands, Eileen simply becomes another victim of an enduring socio-cultural phenomenon - hence the title. Given that some of Eileen's friends were divorced and that she herself was clearly a liberal and free-thinking individual, I think Funder needs to come up with a better reason. If you are setting out to write a biography, surely your job is to tell us what makes the subject tick.