Sonia orwell
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A new book about George Orwell and his wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy lays out patriarchal truths
On reflection, it probably wasn't my best gift idea.
I had been swallowed alive by a new book — enraptured by its writing and intelligence, enraged by its subject matter, disturbed by the echoes in my life and astonished at what Anna Funder had unearthed about the modern literary hero, George Orwell and his wife Eileen. So, naturally I bought a copy of this book, Wifedom, and rushed it to a dear friend.
I thought it was a nice thing to do, until a few days later when my friend's terse text hit my inbox: "Wifedom making me very cranky!" I could actually hear her shouting.
I knew exactly why. The book had made me pretty cranky, too.
I read Funder's meticulous excavation of the patriarchal truths kept buried by 20th century literary criticism and biography while I was on holiday overseas. It was a long anticipated trip, and a trip solely planned and organised by me.
As is the case in many marriages, it's the wife who is the travel agent, and I had spen
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Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp – review
When Eileen O’Shaughnessy married George Orwell in 1936, she was 30 years old, highly educated, and knew her own mind; before the wedding, she told the minister that her vows would not include a promise to “obey” her new husband. But obey him she nearly always did: feeding his chickens, tending his goats, typing up his manuscripts. After their marriage, the couple famously lived (like the common people!) in a cottage belonging to Orwell’s aunt Nellie in Wallington, Hertfordshire, and it was within its dank walls that her husband swiftly established himself as a domestic tyrant. The house had no electricity and no indoor lavatory. Nevertheless, Eileen had to understand that the niceties were still important. Soon after the wedding, she put a jar of marmalade on the table – she was about to serve him one of his beloved cooked breakfasts – only to be instructed by Orwell that its contents should first have been decanted into a jam dish.
The difference between choice and sacrifice in a marriage is inevitably moot, particula
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Eileen O’Shaughnessy
Eileen Maud O’Shaughnessy Blair
Born: 25 September 1905, South Shields
Died: 29 March 1945, Newcastle
Although she lived in South Shields, Eileen attended the fee-paying Sunderland Church High School. A ‘star’ pupil in English, she received the school’s Scholarship to go to university. She was so highly regarded by the school, she also received Fellowship awards for the last two years of her university studies. No other pupil’s name appears more than once in the school’s records of such awards. Three of the commemorative boards recordings this are on display in Langham Tower bar (formerly part of Sunderland Church High School) in Sunderland, and a fourth is now held by the Orwell Society. As an ‘Old Girl’ of the school, they approached Eileen to contribute to a special issue of the school magazine to mark its Golden Jubilee in 1934. Eileen wrote a poem, probably influenced by her interest in European politics (such as the worrying rise of fascism), in which she described a dystopian world but hints at a brighter future in the next 50
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