“Orwell’s “1984” would have been a much better book if his wife had edited it”

Interview In the brilliant “The Invisible Mrs. Orwell”, in the running for the Medici Prize, the Australian writer Anna Funder paints the portrait of the forgotten wife of the author of “1984”, who sacrificed her life to the genius of her husband.

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“Homage to Catalonia”, but not homage to my wife. When George Orwell recounted his engagement in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1937, he neglected to specify that his wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy (1905-1945), was present there. Employed within the Poum (Marxist Unification Workers’ Party), her work in logistics and propaganda led to her being closely spied on. Eileen was then at the center of everything, but she was never at the center of the work, nor of her husband’s life. Australian writer Anna Funder has discovered how the renowned British author’s brilliant companion was ” first buried under domestic chores, then by History.” In a very original essay, the author of “Stasiland” (Héloïse d’Ormesson, 2008) attempts to give it its rightful place. But also to show what it costs to artists’ wives. Encounter.

In “The Invisible Mrs. Orwell,” you say that being overwhelmed by domestic responsibilities as a wife and mother of three children made you want to delve back into the work of George Orwell.

Anna Funder I went through a sort of premenopausal crisis. I’m a privileged white woman, living in a rich country, married to a fantastic man. And yet, I have discovered that most of the care given to others…