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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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Listening pleasure
It’s been a sadly long time since I strolled through the garden at Jane Austen’s House, the cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where Austen...
Deborah Yaffe
May 22, 2023
False advertising?
Like many Janeites, I know scattered bits of Austen by heart. I can proclaim the first sentences of Pride and Prejudice and Emma, recite...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 24, 2023
Writing women
As a writer who is also a fan of period drama, I pay attention to the screenwriting credits on my favorite literary-minded TV...
Deborah Yaffe
Mar 6, 2023
Alumni reunions
Over the holidays, my family settled in for a screening of that sublime romcom Notting Hill. When the movie ended (“I’m just a girl,...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 12, 2023
Passages
The years 1995-96 yielded a bumper crop of filmed versions of Jane Austen’s novels, designed for both big and small screens. The...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 14, 2022
Scary monsters
Happy Halloween, Janeites! Although Austen wrote no scenes of trick-or-treating, pumpkin-carving, or gorging on candy corn, she certainly...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 31, 2022
Snooze
People who hate Jane Austen – yes, such benighted folks do exist – sometimes claim that she is so-o-o boring that she causes eyelids to...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 17, 2022
Expensive thrills
For Janeites, the Austen First Edition Thrill-o-Meter is calibrated something like this: Biggest Thrill: Austen novel first edition owned...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 10, 2022
Laying the table
From time to time, a particular news item brings a snippet of Jane Austen’s wisdom forcibly to mind – such a snippet as, say, “One half...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 8, 2022
Thin gruel
Early last Tuesday morning, I opened up my phone to Wordle, the now-famous daily word-finding puzzle, and typed my usual starting guess:...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 22, 2022
What lies beneath
In popular culture, Jane Austen is the avatar of buttoned-up romance – love stories featuring heroines concealed under long skirts and...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 4, 2022
Mouthwatering
Austen-influenced crafts come in many forms. There are knitting patterns. There are board games. There are tote bags and jewelry and...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 3, 2022
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