“The Invisible Life of Mrs. Orwell,” by Anna Funder, translated from English (Australia) by Carine Chichereau, ed. Héloïse d’Ormesson, 496 p., 23 euros, digital 16 euros.
“Julia”, by Sandra Newman, translated from English (United States) by Hélène Cohen, ed. Robert Laffont, “Pavillons”, 416 p., 22.50 euros, digital 15 euros.
Since the late 2010s and even more so since its entry into the public domain, the 1Ahem January 2021, the most famous novel by George Orwell (1903-1950), 1984has been the subject of a series of rereadings and reinterpretations that unfortunately reveal the acuity of its nightmarish vision developed at the dawn of the Cold War. Thus, seven others were added to the original French translation by Amélie Audiberti (published by Gallimard in 1950) between 2018 and 2021, while, at the same time, there are no less than five adaptations in comic films that emerged between 2020 and 2021.
Two new texts today illustrate the vitality of this movement, expanding the founding work of the British writer in the light, this time, of a feminine and feminist reappropriation: Juliaby Sandra Newman, and The Invisible Mrs. Orwellby Anna Funder. In this last work, which does not seem to choose between essay and fiction and is presented as a novel, the Australian author of Stasillandia (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, thus attempts to paint the portrait of the person who followed Orwell to Catalonia during the war. from Spain, typed his manuscripts, supported him financially and emotionally for almost a decade. To fill 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 interlude, becomes throughout the pages a reflection on the question: “How do we do disappear a woman? »
A dangerous style exercise
Under the mask of the novel, Anna Funder 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 to the position of women” However, it retains all its relevance. We will even gladly consider it as the starting point of JuliaSandra Newman’s novel. But when rewriting 1984 From the point of view of her (only) female character, Julia, the American author constructs a story that obeys her own emotional logic, different from that of George Orwell’s work. In a dangerous exercise in style, he brings to life the setting and the original plot of 1984 in a perfectly convincing way, playing with the memories and expectations of his readers.
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