No selfie sticks were anywhere in sight.   On an overcast afternoon last week, Winchester Cathedral unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Jane Austen in its Inner Close, bringing an end to seven years of hilariously overblown controversy .   The cathedral filmed the event, and several people in the audience raised their cellphones to record it. But predictions that installing an Austen statue would turn the tranquil site into a “Disneyland-on-Itchen” overrun by hordes of se

What did Jane Austen look like? As I’ve noted before (for example, here and here ), we can’t be sure. We have only one portrait we know...

I’ve never paid particular attention to flowers in Jane Austen’s novels, but apparently, someone else has been taking note: Earlier this...

It’s coming up on chain-yourself-to-the-bulldozers time for the vocal—but possibly small—band of folks opposed to the erection of a Jane...

Dust off those selfie sticks, Janeites: Winchester Cathedral is moving ahead with its controversial plan to place a statue of Jane Austen...

The controversy over Winchester Cathedral’s proposed Jane Austen statue is truly the gift that keeps on giving, at least for those of us...

As an Anglophile happily married to a Brit, I say this with love: Sometimes the English are just so adorably, hilariously. . . English ....

A playful and intriguing work of decorative art is now on permanent public display in England. And it’s got a Jane Austen angle! I am...

Exactly five years ago, Winchester Cathedral proposed erecting a statue of Jane Austen in the Cathedral Close, in tribute to the most...

The return of spring brings many pleasures. Flowers! Baby birds! And, of course, a new Jane Austen bobblehead! Back in 2020, the North...

Jane Austen assuredly never saw a penguin: According to the Zoological Society of London, it wasn’t until 1865, nearly fifty years after...

Jane Austen’s silhouette – or, at least, a silhouette that has come to be identified with her – is ubiquitous. Despite its uncertain...