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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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A controversial rarity
Because Jane Austen’s letters are such rare and precious gems, it’s semi-big news whenever one of the extant 160(ish) turns up on...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 10, 2023
Treasures of the collection
A year after a priceless nineteenth-century literary collection was rescued from the auction block and donated to public institutions...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 5, 2022
Jane Austen in love . . . maybe
Nine months have passed since we learned the happy news that a cache of priceless books and manuscripts, including two Jane Austen...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 12, 2022
On this day in 1811. . .
Seventy-sixth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Jane Austen’s novels famously contain few detailed...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 6, 2022
One of Us
For a long time, we have known that at least one* Janeite lives barely a heartbeat away from the British throne: Seven years ago,...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 14, 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
Women's letters, women's lives
Texts and emails have much to recommend them, but it’s hard not to wonder how much their prevalence will handicap future biographers....
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 24, 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
Saved!
Genuinely good news – a commodity that’s been in short supply this past year – came our way earlier this month, with the announcement...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 30, 2021
Not In Jane's Backyard
Between her father’s death in January 1805 and her move into Chawton cottage in July 1809, Jane Austen was . . . not homeless, certainly,...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 4, 2021
Housekeeping
Jane Austen apparently liked to eat – “You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me,” she wrote to her sister in June...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 5, 2021
Sanditon, the convention
In the past three years, Sanditon, the TV series based on Jane Austen’s last unfinished novel, has roller-coastered through a dizzying...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 24, 2021
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