Cassandra Austen | DeborahYaffe.com 2/7

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

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

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

What remains

Two hundred and seven years ago today, Jane Austen died in Winchester, England, at the age of forty-one. It’s easy to forget how...

Deborah Yaffe

Jul 18, 2024

On this day in 1813. . .

Ninety-fourth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Only about two years of Jane Austen’s childhood were spent...

Deborah Yaffe

May 20, 2024

On this day in 1801. . .

Ninety-first in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. A curious—and curiously contemporary--passage appears in the...

Deborah Yaffe

Jan 25, 2024

On this day in 1808. . .

Eighty-ninth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Novelists are a ruthless bunch. They find grist for their...

Deborah Yaffe

Oct 16, 2023

On this day in 1796. . .

Eighty-eighth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. The British have a well-documented penchant for discussing...

Deborah Yaffe

Sep 18, 2023

On this day in 1808. . .

Eighty-sixth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. The letter Jane Austen wrote to her sister, Cassandra,...

Deborah Yaffe

Jun 26, 2023

On this day in 1811. . .

Eighty-fifth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Nowadays, when a new acquaintance turns out to be the...

Deborah Yaffe

May 29, 2023

On this day in 1811. . .

Eighty-fourth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. It’s traditional to envision Jane Austen as a homebody, and...

Deborah Yaffe

Apr 20, 2023