Short and sweet
Fellow novelists do not invariably appreciate Jane Austen—looking at you, Charlotte Brontë!—but it’s always a pleasure when they do. And...
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Journalist and author
The Line of Thought
. . . to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream.
--Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
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Deborah Yaffe
- Jun 15
Writer's writer
Virginia Woolf famously remarked that “of all great writers [Jane Austen] is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness.”...
Deborah Yaffe
- Jun 1
Death of an unabashed Janeite
Martin Amis’ death last month at the age of seventy-three didn’t hit me as hard as it did the legions of bookish lads who fell for his...
Deborah Yaffe
- Apr 24
False advertising?
Like many Janeites, I know scattered bits of Austen by heart. I can proclaim the first sentences of Pride and Prejudice and Emma, recite...
Deborah Yaffe
- Feb 23
Heavenly visions
From time to time, my Google alert brings me word of Janeites I’ll never get to meet--fellow travelers who have passed on, leaving behind...
Deborah Yaffe
- Jan 26
Jane Austen, matchmaker
The characters that Teri Roberts and Rachel Walton portrayed in the faux-Regency world of the Austen-themed online role-playing game...
Deborah Yaffe
- Jan 5
A Janeite's Janeite passes on
Edith Lank, who died on New Year’s Day at the age of ninety-six, was a Janeite’s Janeite. She read and reread Austen’s novels; began...
Deborah Yaffe
- Dec 29, 2022
Dinner time
A common Janeite fantasy goes like this: You meet Jane Austen. Naturally, she finds you interesting and delightful. You get her take on,...
Deborah Yaffe
- Dec 19, 2022
Sugarplums
As Christmas approaches, the internet has been filling our Janeite stockings with tidbits of Austen-related news: --Ahoy, there: Last...
Deborah Yaffe
- Dec 1, 2022
CryptoJane, Part II
Jane Austen’s famous remark about the relative value of tangible and intangible assets–“tho’ I like praise as well as anybody, I like...
Deborah Yaffe
- Oct 13, 2022
The pendulum swings
The smashing success of Netflix’s Bridgerton has ushered in a new era of multiracial casting in Regency costume dramas. This is good...
Deborah Yaffe
- Oct 6, 2022
Ahead of his time
Janeites first discover Jane Austen at different moments in their lives. I’ve talked with people who read her first in a high school or...
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