Deborah YaffeOct 31, 2022Scary monstersHappy Halloween, Janeites! Although Austen wrote no scenes of trick-or-treating, pumpkin-carving, or gorging on candy corn, she certainly...
Deborah YaffeOct 27, 2022Read all about itLike most writers, Jane Austen was a reader, avidly consuming the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction prose of her day. Her letters offer...
Deborah YaffeOct 24, 2022On this day in 1798. . . Eightieth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Nowadays, an unpublished writer can upload her...
Deborah YaffeOct 20, 2022Drinking gameThis fall and winter, every Janeite workweek starts with “Austen Monday”—the evening on which the Rosenbach, Philadelphia’s museum and...
Deborah YaffeOct 17, 2022SnoozePeople who hate Jane Austen – yes, such benighted folks do exist – sometimes claim that she is so-o-o boring that she causes eyelids to...
Deborah YaffeOct 13, 2022The pendulum swingsThe smashing success of Netflix’s Bridgerton has ushered in a new era of multiracial casting in Regency costume dramas. This is good...
Deborah YaffeOct 10, 2022Expensive thrillsFor Janeites, the Austen First Edition Thrill-o-Meter is calibrated something like this: Biggest Thrill: Austen novel first edition owned...
Deborah YaffeOct 6, 2022Ahead of his timeJaneites first discover Jane Austen at different moments in their lives. I’ve talked with people who read her first in a high school or...
Deborah YaffeOct 3, 2022The Austen MBAWe all read Jane Austen for different reasons. (I wrote a whole book about this phenomenon.) Some read her for the lucidity of her...
