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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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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
Jun 1, 2023
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
Apr 24, 2023
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
Feb 23, 2023
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 26, 2023
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
Jan 5, 2023
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 29, 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 19, 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
Dec 1, 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 13, 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...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 6, 2022
The Austen MBA
We all read Jane Austen for different reasons. (I wrote a whole book about this phenomenon.) Some read her for the lucidity of her...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 3, 2022
Reading Austen in high places
A few months ago, I noted that the British royal family appears to include a critical mass of women who are crazy about Jane Austen. (Or...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 19, 2022
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