We adaptation-loving Janeites have grown used to disappointment. Remember the feature film of Sanditon, starring Charlotte Rampling as Lady Denham? Or that dark and edgy TV version of Pride and Prejudice? Neither do I – because both projects seem to have disappeared without a trace, years after they were initially floated. But the Netflix adaptation of Persuasion, with Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot – that one really seems to be happening, judging from the location-shooting pi

In the past three years, Sanditon, the TV series based on Jane Austen’s last unfinished novel, has roller-coastered through a dizzying series of ups and downs: the hype (a new adaptation from Andrew Davies, screenwriter of the iconic BBC Pride and Prejudice!); the fizzle (lukewarm reviews, mediocre ratings, early cancellation); the lobbying (by a passionate online fanbase appalled at the unhappy cliffhanger ending); the reprieve (two new seasons, coming right up!); and the as

“Seven years I suppose are enough to change every pore of one’s skin, & every feeling of one’s mind,” Jane Austen wrote to her sister, Cassandra, in April of 1805 (Letter #43 in Deirdre Le Faye’s standard edition of Austen’s correspondence). But twenty-six years, it seems, aren’t even enough to change one’s outfit. Or so we might conclude from the whimsical ten-second video that actor Alicia Silverstone posted to TikTok earlier this month, in her debut on the video-sharing so

It’s a funny time right now for us theater-loving Janeites: Some of our favorite things are still virtual, others are on their way back to pre-pandemic normal. The latest data points: * The annual Jane Austen Summer Program, usually held live in the vicinity of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, starts today in an all-virtual format. The four-day schedule of lectures, workshops, and discussions centered on Austen’s life and times also includes two Friday night t

Sixty-fourth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen’s letters. No author – not even Jane Austen -- is immune to the charm of hearing her works praised. Or so we might conclude from the letter she wrote to her sister, Cassandra, exactly 207 years ago today (#101 in Deirdre Le Faye’s standard edition of Austen’s correspondence). Austen is detailing her plans for a visit to Cassandra Leigh Cooke, a first cousin and namesake of the Austens’ mother, and her husband,

Five years ago, in a blog post headlined “Party like it’s 1995,” I heralded a forthcoming spate of filmed Jane Austen adaptations – a bumper crop that, I speculated, might recall the happy days of 1995-6, when six good-to-superb Austen adaptations hit screens large and small. I spoke too soon, since the 2016 bumper crop eventually included one pretty good movie (Whit Stillman’s Love and Friendship, an adaptation of Lady Susan), two excruciatingly lousy movies (Pride and Preju

So I spent Memorial Day weekend visiting family in Denver. One afternoon, as we drove along the street, I glanced out the window just in time to spot something familiar: I cannot immediately put a name to this Lexus-owning Colorado Janeite who also seems to be a George Mason University alum, and I'm unwilling to pay an online service to dig out the details. (Easily done! But creepy, no?) Still, given the smallness of the Janeite world, it's not out of the question that I have

If you’re a bit stir-crazy after fifteen months’ home confinement, the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain has a suggestion for you: drive across Europe, on one of six itineraries strung between London and Moscow. (Yes, according to Four Seasons, Great Britain remains a European destination, Brexit be damned.) The British leg of the journey takes you on a ninety-minute jaunt from London to the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire – summer room rates starting at more than a thousand dolla