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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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On this day in 1796. . .
Sixtieth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. The record of Jane Austen’s thoughts, feelings, and opinions is...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 14, 2021
Recovering a literary Holy Grail
It’s been more than three years since a trio of passionate Janeites formed the Godmersham Lost Sheep Society (GLOSS), an organization...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 7, 2021
On this day in 1798. . .
Fifty-ninth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. When Jane Austen sat down to write a letter to her sister,...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 28, 2020
On this day in 1815. . .
Fifty-eighth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Although Jane Austen was a professional writer who spent six...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 23, 2020
On this day in 1804. . .
Fifty-sixth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. The letter that the 28-year-old Jane Austen wrote to her...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 13, 2020
AKA
Did Jane Austen want the world to know her name? It’s a complicated question. In January 1796, in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, the...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 23, 2020
Ruins
Tom Lefroy’s house is crumbling away. To Janeites, this may seem poetic justice for the young Irishman who danced and flirted with the...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 26, 2020
On this day in 1817. . .
Fifty-fifth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. I recently finished reading my eighth biography of Jane...
Deborah Yaffe
May 27, 2020
Restraint
I like to think that I do not “rant” about Jane Austen-related error. I merely point it out, in a snarky yet restrained way. At times, it...
Deborah Yaffe
Mar 22, 2020
On this day in 1817. . .
Fifty-second in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. It’s no secret that Jane Austen held a jaundiced view of the...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 20, 2020
On this day in 1798. . .
Fiftieth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. The holiday season can be difficult for those of us who find...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 26, 2019
On this day in 1798. . .
Forty-ninth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. For devotees of the Tom-Lefroy-was-the-love-of-Jane-Austen’s...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 18, 2019
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