“Wifedom. Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life”, by Anna Funder, translated from English (Australia) by Carine Chichereau, ed. Héloïse d’Ormesson, 496 p., €23, digital €16.
“Julia”, by Sandra Newman, translated from English (United States) by Hélène Cohen, ed. Robert Laffont, “Pavillons”, 416 p., €22.50, digital €15.
Since the end of the 2010s and even more since its entry into the public domain, the 1is January 2021, the most famous novel by George Orwell (1903-1950), 1984has been the subject of a series of rereadings and reinterpretations which unfortunately reveal the acuity of his nightmarish vision developed at the dawn of the Cold War. Thus, to the original French translation by Amélie Audiberti (published by Gallimard in 1950) were added seven others between 2018 and 2021, while, at the same time, there are no less than five adaptations in tape comics that emerged between 2020 and 2021.
Two new texts today illustrate the vitality of this movement, extending the founding work of the British writer in the light, this time, of a feminine and feminist reappropriation: Juliaby Sandra Newman, and L’Invisible madame Orwellby Anna Funder. In this latest work, which appears not to choose between essay and fiction while presenting itself as a novel, the Australian author of Stasiland (ed. Héloïse d’Ormesson, 2008) questions the barely visible silhouette of the wife in the shadow of her great man: Eileen O’Shaughnessy (1905-1945) – whom George Orwell married in 1936. Based on letters to her best friend, among other direct or indirect sources, she thus attempts to paint the portrait of the one who followed Orwell to Catalonia during the war of Spain, typed his manuscripts, supported him financially and emotionally for almost a decade. To fill in the gaps, Anna Funder does not hesitate to resort to fiction or to portray herself and her family. And rather than sticking to the chronology of the life of this woman who becomes invisible, this book, whose obvious charm lies in this in-between, becomes over the pages a reflection around the question: “How do we make a woman disappear? »
A perilous style exercise
Under the mask of the novel, Anna Funder both exposes and protects herself, and critics sometimes have fun questioning the veracity of the portrait she ultimately offers. But the observation she draws from an Orwell “remained blind as to the position of women” however, retains all its relevance. We will even willingly consider it as the starting point of Juliathe novel by Sandra Newman. But by rewriting 1984 from the point of view of her (only) female character, Julia, the American author constructs a story which obeys its own emotional logic, different from that of the work of George Orwell. In a perilous exercise in style, she brings to life the setting and the original plot of 1984 in a perfectly convincing way, playing with the memories and expectations of its readers.
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