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

On this day in 1808. . .

One hundred and fourth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Jane Austen, it seems, took a rather jaundiced...

Deborah Yaffe

Oct 2

In Jane Austen's handwriting

Physical copies of Jane Austen’s letters are rare commodities. Of the 160 letters whose text we have, seven are known only from copies...

Deborah Yaffe

Sep 25

Who's counting?

It’s fair to say that Jane Austen was a prolific letter-writer. Deirdre Le Faye, who edited the standard edition of Austen’s...

Deborah Yaffe

Sep 1

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