Cassandra Austen | DeborahYaffe.com

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

Sister act

If you spend any time online, you’ve probably encountered a version of that ubiquitous, tired clickbait, the “Which Jane Austen heroine...

Deborah Yaffe

May 26

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

May 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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