Is "Wifedom" fiction? Nonfiction? Yes.
It's almost impossible to characterize Anna Funder's book about Eileen Orwell, known — if she's thought of at all — as "wife of George Orwell." But this dazzling, infuriating book argues that she deserves a bigger place in history.
"Wifedom" is a sort-of biography of Eileen, but Funder intersperses historical accounts with fictional vignettes that imagine how Eileen might have reacted when, for instance, she read her husband's book of his service during the Spanish Civil War, in which he barely mentioned that she was there, that she was a spy who was in more danger than he was and that she saved his life.
Funder wants us to think about that, with this added detail: Eileen was the editor and typist of her husband's works, so it's not just that she saw herself written out of his accounts. She also codified his erasure of her. (Funder notes that George refers to "my wife" 37 times in the book without once using her name.)
It gets worse. It was often remarked that "Animal Farm" was nothing like George's other work, something Funder believes is because Eileen contributed so much to it.
The "1984" author had affairs, lots of them, and pretended he had an open marriage, except Eileen — often forced into uncomfortable dinners with George's paramours — never agreed to it.
When a "hail of bullets" endangers both Orwells, George ponders saving Eileen, but opts to run in the opposite direction.
George had tuberculosis, although he denied it and refused to warn those with whom he had contact. Oh, and Eileen died because her husband skipped town and couldn't be reached to OK a life-saving operation.
