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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 1801. . .
One hundred and first in an occasional series  of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters.  How improper were Jane Austen’s letters?  By...
Deborah Yaffe
7 days ago
2
The other talented Austen sister
Cassandra Austen’s family considered her a skilled artist, but for most Janeites, her claim to artistic fame rests, uneasily, on a single...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 28
0
Good hair day?
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...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 14
2
Putting it on
Seldom do I appreciate zippers more than when I’ve just watched actors in Regency costume recreate the rituals of Jane Austen-era...
Deborah Yaffe
Mar 13
0
Treasure trove
Jane Austen’s travelling writing desk , often described as the eighteenth-century equivalent of a laptop, is usually on display at the...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 6
0
Branding exercise
A few weeks ago, I ran across a 2011 article in which the wonderful Scottish novelist Ali Smith explained why she seldom grants...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 3
0
On this day in 1799. . .
Ninety-ninth in an occasional series  of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters.  Exactly 226 years ago today, the 23-year-old Jane Austen...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 9
0
On this day in 1798. . .
Ninety-eighth in an occasional series  of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters.  Mary Lloyd was a friend of Jane and Cassandra Austen...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 2, 2024
2
Thriller
Are you feeling sad that you won’t be able to join the Jane Austen 250th Birthday festivities in England next year? Fear not! You can...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 18, 2024
0
On this day in 1813. . .
Ninety-seventh in an occasional series  of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters.  What tribute does a friend owe to a published author?...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 7, 2024
0
Plain and ornamental
In his 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen , the author’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, reports that his famous aunt “was successful in...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 10, 2024
0
On this day in 1808. . .
Ninety-sixth in an occasional series  of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Janeites do not always take Jane Austen at her word when it...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 7, 2024
2
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