Deborah YaffeDec 2, 2021Jane and the feathered friendJane Austen assuredly never saw a penguin: According to the Zoological Society of London, it wasn’t until 1865, nearly fifty years after...
Deborah YaffeAug 2, 2021Another side of AustenJane Austen’s silhouette – or, at least, a silhouette that has come to be identified with her – is ubiquitous. Despite its uncertain...
Deborah YaffeApr 8, 2021All the JanesJaneites have a curious affinity for images of Our Author – even though, as I’ve noted before, we’ll never really know what she looked...
Deborah YaffeJun 1, 2020Jane Austen's new lookThese days, the internet is awash in posts purporting to explain why social distancing in the Time of Coronavirus is amusingly or...
Deborah YaffeApr 4, 2019Statues, statues everywhereRemember back in elementary school, when one kid would get an awesome new toy or a cool pair of shoes, and then everybody had to have...
Deborah YaffeFeb 28, 2019Enough alreadyIs it possible to have too much Jane Austen? Apparently, the good citizens of Winchester, England, think it is. Last fall, Winchester...
Deborah YaffeJan 28, 2019The mysterious Rice portrait, againOne of the Janeite world’s most enduring mysteries/controversies concerns a charming eighteenth-century oil painting of a young girl in a...
Deborah YaffeDec 20, 2018An embarrassment of Austen statuesEighteen months ago, not a single statue of Jane Austen was on public display anywhere in the world. And now, it appears, we will soon...
Deborah YaffeJun 21, 2018A statue for ChawtonThe Hampshire village of Chawton is the mecca of the Janeite faith: the community where Austen spent the last eight years of her life,...
Deborah YaffeJul 31, 2017Camera-readyAmong the many, many activities taking place on the bicentennial of Jane Austen’s death earlier this month was the unveiling of a new...
Deborah YaffeJun 5, 2017Déjà vu all over againI love the British press. When it comes to Jane Austen, they can manufacture a story out of the thinnest gossamer. Even recycled...
Deborah YaffeJan 23, 2017Bronzing AustenNobody knows what Jane Austen looked like. Nobody will ever know what Jane Austen looked like. So, naturally, we’ll soon have a new image...