British exam board axes George Orwell's debut novel but adds 'poorly researched feminist attack'

A British exam board has swapped out a George Orwell debut novel in its specification in exchange for a "poorly researched feminist attack".

Teens sitting OCR's English language and literature A Level will be deprived of the chance to study the renowned English author's Down and Out in Paris and London from the start of the next academic year.

Published in 1933, the literary work explores themes of poverty and homelessness across the British and French capitals.

To this day, it has been lauded for being "written with so much artistic force" and has been hailed as "a genuine human document".

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The book's departure from the specification list will make way for the inclusion of Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life.

The biography, penned by Anna Funder, details how Orwell's wife, who endured marriage to her misogynistic and disloyal husband, was "cancelled by the patriarchy".

The author claims the novelist's first wife, Eileen, who was wedded to Orwell for nine years, was key to the author's fame and fortune.

Quentin Kopp, chairman of The Orwell Society, hit out at the replacement for what he deemed a hit-piece on the iconic emblem of English literature.

He argued the biography has "imposed a modern feminist view on a marriage of 80 years ago".

"Wifedom is an extremely well-written book which pursues a feminist thesis that is not supported by any serious study of Orwell and Eileen’s life," he told The Telegraph.

Mr Kopp explained that he had assisted Ms Funder in the book's creation, yet he slammed it for being "full of factual errors".

In what the Orwell expert described as a "poorly researched feminist attack", Ms Funder describes telling her teenage daughter that Orwell was an "a****le".

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He added it "shows no understanding of English middle-class mores of the period" and was "inappropriate" for teachers to use the book containing "foul-mouthed criticism of men" as an educational resource.

"I am no authority on feminist literature, but I would be amazed if you could not suggest several better representations of well-argued feminist thought, if that is what is sought," he said.

Other prominent feminist writers at the same time as the author include Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir.

Literary works joining the list include Common People, which is an anthology featuring 33 working-class writers, as well as Sabba Khan's The Roles We Play, a British writer's memoir about her Kashmiri heritage.

Dara McAnulty's Diary of a Young Naturalist, which explores nature from the perspective of an autistic child, will also be included.

An OCR spokesman said: "Wifedom is not replacing Down and Out in Paris and London; it takes the place of another Anna Funder book on the previous set text list.

"In fact, many students who read Wifedom will choose to read Orwell’s writing to complement it.

"Inclusion of a text is not an endorsement of its content but of its suitability to generate rigorous and sophisticated analysis, including critique.

"The range of critical responses to Wifedom, as with other set texts, adds to its strength as a subject of study. Our set texts are not a prescriptive list: students are required to analyse one set text in addition to any other text of their choice."

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