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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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Recommended reading
To Janeites – indeed, to anyone who’s read semi-widely and who isn’t V.S. Naipaul – it’s obvious that women are capable of writing great...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 13, 2022
Bonnetfest closeup
If you’re a Janeite who can’t make it to Cincinnati’s Taft Museum of Art this summer – and will therefore miss your chance for an...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 9, 2022
On this day in 1811. . .
Seventy-sixth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Jane Austen’s novels famously contain few detailed...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 6, 2022
In the air
The zeitgeist is a peculiar thing. For decades – centuries, even – almost nobody makes a Pride and Prejudice update centered on same-sex...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 2, 2022
High stakes, low stakes
In Jane Austen’s novels, the stakes of the courtship game could hardly be higher: Her heroines face irrevocable decisions that will...
Deborah Yaffe
May 30, 2022
#AustenTok
If you’ve ever wondered whether the shortening of our collective attention span spells doom for the appreciation of Jane Austen's...
Deborah Yaffe
May 26, 2022
Many happy returns
The return of spring brings many pleasures. Flowers! Baby birds! And, of course, a new Jane Austen bobblehead! Back in 2020, the North...
Deborah Yaffe
May 23, 2022
Sticker shock
Apparently, it’s not just gas and hotel rooms: Pandemic-era inflation has also hit the rare book market. Or so we learned from a recent...
Deborah Yaffe
May 19, 2022
Love means never having to say you're sorry
When I was growing up in 1970s and -80s heartland America, my taste for classic literature, including Jane Austen, made me . . . well, I...
Deborah Yaffe
May 16, 2022
On this day in 1801. . .
Seventy-fifth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. How autobiographical is Jane Austen’s writing? Impossible...
Deborah Yaffe
May 12, 2022
Back to the beach
May already! Practically swimsuit season – and thus a perfect time to check out the latest news about the two beachiest Jane Austen...
Deborah Yaffe
May 9, 2022
While the bombs fall
Back in 2016, the BBC interviewed a young Syrian woman sheltering at home during the government’s brutal bombing of the city of Aleppo....
Deborah Yaffe
May 5, 2022
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