Australian writer Anna Funder라이브 바카라 latest book, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell라이브 바카라 Invisible Life, shines the spotlight on Eileen O’Shaughnessy, celebrated writer George Orwell라이브 바카라 first wife. Eileen was a writer herself and an Oxford graduate whose creative input and support to her husband were barely acknowledged. Funder used newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend to resurrect Eileen라이브 바카라 life. Wifedom raises crucial questions about what it takes to be a writer and to be a wife in modern times. Funder라이브 바카라 2003 book, Stasiland: True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, is a deeply researched account of life in Cold War Germany. The Samuel Johnson Prize-winning title traces the lives of those who resisted the regime in East Germany and those who worked for the dreaded Stasi. Funder is also the author of the Miles Franklin Award-winning novel All That I Am and the novella The Girl With the Dogs. During her visit to India to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival 2025, Funder spoke to Vineetha Mokkil about the importance of writing stories from the point of view of the underdog and paying attention to the invisible.
What motivated you to explore the Orwells’ marriage—one of the most famous literary marriages of modern times—from the perspective of Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell라이브 바카라 first wife?
I am a big admirer of Orwell라이브 바카라 writing. But when I read his biographies, I was surprised to see how Eileen was relegated to the footnotes. I scanned Orwell라이브 바카라 existing biographies, the archives. She was kept out of the picture; her skills and her influence on his writing glossed over. All the work she had done to organise his life was mentioned in the passive voice (the manuscript was typed, the visas were obtained, etc). I had to write this fascinating woman back into history. I wanted to rescue her from the footnotes of Orwell라이브 바카라 story and let her take centrestage. By exploring their marriage through Eileen라이브 바카라 eyes, I try to find out how she navigated wifedom in her time. There are many details about Orwell that Eileen mentions in her letters to her friend. She took care of his health and their home, edited his work, typed it out, organising his life so he could focus on his writing. Her inputs were crucial in shaping his writing. I think it라이브 바카라 important to tell the full story. Why should we live with fictionalised versions of both Eileen and Orwell?
In Wifedom, I ask why the work women do and the emotional labour they contribute as wives are taken for granted in a patriarchal world. It라이브 바카라 neither recognised nor rewarded. Women shape the world in fundamental ways. Society cannot function without their labour, but most of it is invisibalised. Orwell is painted as having achieved everything he did on his own, but that라이브 바카라 far from true. I felt that the existing biographies were dishonest accounts since they kept Eileen라이브 바카라 role hidden. So, I went ahead and wrote a counter-fiction, Wifedom. Everything I write in it is true.
“The work women do and the emotional labour they contribute as wives are taken for granted in a patriarchal world. It라이브 바카라 neither recognised nor rewarded.”
The Orwells lived together as a married couple about 80 years ago. Have we come a long way since then in terms of traditional gender roles?
Things are changing but we still have a long way to go. Take parenting for instance. There라이브 바카라 a lot of talk about parenting today, but if you look closely, you’ll see it라이브 바카라 about mothering. The day-to-day work involved—organising play dates and parties, buying gifts, ferrying them to classes and social events—is usually left to mothers…The dominant stories in our time are still propaganda about male power and centrality. They are written in a way to make women feel small and powerless. Men are portrayed as achievers and women라이브 바카라 contributions to their success are erased.
Women who live non-traditional lives and make choices that upset the status quo—choosing to be single or child-free, for instance—pay a high price for it. The punishment for following their own path continues to be severe. Society finds it hard to respect women라이브 바카라 choices. Policing women and controlling their lives have always been part of patriarchy라이브 바카라 playbook. I come from an upper middle-class, left-leaning family. My mother had women friends who were artists, who lived non-traditional lives. They became my role models and showed me that it is possible to live a different kind of life.
In your book, Stasiland: True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, you write about people who had to live under extreme conditions in the surveillance state of East Germany. Why did you choose to tell their stories?
Stories choose me, not the other way around. Lives lived in extreme situations reveal what it is to be human. I am in awe of the courage and conscience of the resistors in East Germany who stood up even when they knew things would end badly for them. That incredible core is the heart of humanity. Stasiland celebrates stories that are not created by those in power. It presents a clear view of society from the point of view of the underdog and chronicles their resistance to tyranny.
Though I grew up in a left-leaning family, as a child I felt powerless in a home run by controlling adults. I started observing the mechanics of power from an early age. I also understood how the rules were different for me and my brothers, how expectations placed on daughters and sons differ so widely. Patriarchy puts both women and men in rigid brackets. Men who express their feelings openly are met with disapproval. They are expected to be strong and in control. Recently, when there was a family tragedy, I watched my teenaged son suppress his emotions. He didn’t cry…That worries me.
You used to live in the United States with your family, but you moved back to Australia. Why the shift?
Australia is home and I share a deep, formational bond with it. The United States has a very different culture. As compared to the US, Australian society has less extremes of wealth and poverty. In America, basics like access to healthcare and a decent minimum wage are out of the reach of many. I think the United States has the veneer of a first world country but it has a brutal underbelly. Social justice is denied and the gap between the rich and the less privileged keeps widening there.
You were originally trained as a human rights lawyer. Was the move from law to writing an easy one?
I was always interested in writing. I studied French and Literature. I was trained to be a human rights lawyer and I did work as a lawyer for some time. I procrastinated for a while when it came to writing, but once I started work on my first book, I got on with it. It라이브 바카라 been an exciting journey so far. I appreciate the recognition I’ve got from readers and critics. I’m woolgathering for my next book right now.
(This appeared in the Print as 'The Lives of Others')
