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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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Dear diary
More than two centuries ago, Jane Austen’s older brother Edward Knight decided to get his Kent mansion painted. As anyone who’s endured...
Deborah Yaffe
2 days ago
2
Celebration, by any name
A 250th birthday goes by many names . It can be called a semiquincentennial, a sestercentennial, a quarter millennial--even a...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 2
2
Celebrating significance
At my synagogue, members sometimes engage in public religious rituals to mark what we discreetly call “significant birthdays”--in other...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 16, 2024
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Wondering about Alice
Chawton House, the Elizabethan mansion once owned by Jane Austen’s older brother Edward, has worked hard to transform itself from a...
Deborah Yaffe
May 27, 2024
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Embroidering Chawton
The last time I completed a significant piece of needlework (see below) was during the early months of pandemic quarantine, when being...
Deborah Yaffe
May 2, 2024
2
AirbnJA
Janeites love making pilgrimages to the places where Jane Austen—or at least her relatives--once lived, worked, or ate. But for some...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 18, 2023
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Flipping Austenian pancakes
If your house is anything like mine, this time of year features a whole lot of food. There are foods to provide for guests and family...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 4, 2023
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Treasure chest
Chawton House, the Elizabethan mansion in Hampshire once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward, is one of the treasures of the Janeite...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 2, 2023
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Summer fun
Chawton House, the Elizabethan mansion in Hampshire, England, once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight, has had a busy...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 27, 2023
2
Jeopardy and peril at Chawton House
Twenty years ago this summer, American tech mogul and Janeite Sandy Lerner finished up her multimillion-dollar restoration of an...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 17, 2023
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The scientific method
Over the past three years, the indefatigable Jane Austen & Co. has convened four smart and provocative online lecture series about...
Deborah Yaffe
Mar 9, 2023
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Broadening the collection
The last time the pioneering feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft was the subject of a public fundraising effort, the results were...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 15, 2022
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