Eileen Orwell: A Life in the Shadow of Genius
TCC BYO Book Club leader Gayner provides his insightful review of Wifedom by Anna Funder
TCC BYO Book Club meets at TCC monthly on the first Wednesday of each month from 1.30 to 2.30pm. Book Club Link
A Fascinating, Yet Flawed Biography
Overall, the book was an original approach to infer the biography of an invisible but influential woman who obviously had an important and significant impact on George Orwell’s life. The book presents a coherent picture of Eileen Orwell’s life after marriage, although some of it presumably has to be inferred and comes across as ‘informed fiction’, such as sections of supposed dialogue. There are some aspects of the book which make it hard going, in particular where the author foists her own views of the world, especially her opinions on the ‘patriarchy’, into the body of the book.
A Personal Agenda Overshadows the Subject
The first part of the book is largely a rant about how women are generally treated, especially as authors’ wives. The early life of Mrs Orwell is interspersed with descriptions of the author’s own personal experiences and observations. This intrusion of the author into the book gradually recedes as the book progresses and largely fades away after the first 200-250 pages. After its cover, one tends to judge a book by the contents of its first few chapters, and the prominent ‘guest appearance’ of the author may deter many readers from completing the book. I would have preferred it if Funder had separated these thoughts, prejudices and observations into an introduction or preface, as they explain why she decided to write the book. The rest of the book would have then been a more objective, scholarly treatise. At p.200, for example, Funder inserts a brief chapter about aspects of her own life. Is the book about Eileen or is it about Funder? To me the ratio seems about 80/20. If Funder wants to gripe about her own invisibility, don’t freeload off someone else’s biography.
A Critical Eye on Orwell
At p.53 Funder complains that a male author will benefit from his wife’s invisible help and acknowledge her only with a sentence. Yet apart from brief mentions in the text (e.g. p.57), this is essentially what Funder does – a standard dedication to her family at the start and a brief paragraph in the Acknowledgements section.
At p.181 Funder illustrates Eileen’s invisibility by describing how Orwell has not once mentioned Eileen by name in Homage to Catalonia, merely some 37 references to ‘my wife’. At many other places in the book, we see how Orwell is unkempt, socially awkward, perhaps gauche, a witty man and brilliant writer but unable to perform simple everyday tasks. It paints a picture to me that Orwell may be one of those exceptional artists who excels in his / her area but is perhaps slightly autistic in dealing with the mundanities of everyday life, such as boiling an egg, paying a bill or cleaning a latrine. This would explain why he is certainly hopeless when he attempts serious relationships and appears to be inclined to flee when confronted with difficult or emotional situations. It seems that Funder has a bee in her bonnet (perhaps justifiably) about unsung women and, because of her interest in Orwell and the wealth of information available, has used him as a whipping boy.
It is interesting that Orwell eventually has some self-awareness about his relationship with Eileen – at the top of p.348 he admits that (in retrospect) he may not have treated her very well.
A Broader Perspective
In closing, I raise a general point on which to ponder, inspired by the way this book was written. The book mentions at least 6 biographies of Orwell, all written (I believe) by men. It infers that, because of the conventions of the patriarchy, that the feminine contributions to Orwell’s life are skipped or overlooked. After recently reading Selina Hastings’ book, ‘The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham’, which peels back the surface of that author’s life, I start to see a pattern which makes me pose the question: does it take a woman to dig out the substance beneath the biography of a famous man? From a symmetric aspect, I wonder whether it takes a man to burrow below the assumptions of the sisterhood when researching the biography of a famous woman?