Deborah YaffeAug 24Sourcing and citationEarlier this month, a man from the Maryland suburbs sent a letter to the Washington Post. “When I was reading Colbert I. King’s July 29...
Deborah YaffeJul 3RepresentRepresentation is a hot topic in literary circles these days, as publishers reckon (late, slowly, and imperfectly) with their long...
Deborah YaffeFeb 16Speaking well enough to be unintelligibleA few weeks ago, the British press was suddenly awash in articles (for example, here, here and here) about the new! exciting! previously...
Deborah YaffeFeb 13TriggeredIn my junior year of college, the assigned reading for my women’s studies class included Gloria Naylor’s 1982 novel The Women of Brewster...
Deborah YaffeJan 12Alumni reunionsOver 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 YaffeOct 31, 2022Scary monstersHappy Halloween, Janeites! Although Austen wrote no scenes of trick-or-treating, pumpkin-carving, or gorging on candy corn, she certainly...
Deborah YaffeJan 3, 2022On this day in 1801. . . Seventy-first in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Moving out of one house and into another is a stressful,...
Deborah YaffeDec 17, 2020Eternal veritiesDespite the strangeness of this year, some eternal verities remain. Snowflakes. Evergreens. Misquoting Jane Austen. A few highlights of...
Deborah YaffeSep 7, 2020Giving credit where credit is dueThose of us who set ourselves up as arbiters of correctness in matters of Jane Austen quotation never run short of opportunities to...
Deborah YaffeAug 13, 2020Austen mathRemind me: How many novels did Jane Austen write, again? Just kidding! Yes, of course, the answer is six. But if you didn’t know that...
Deborah YaffeApr 2, 2020Keeping up with the KambridgesTrendy fashion accessories come and go. One year, it’s thigh-high red boots and black berets; the next it’s purple shoes and tiny...
Deborah YaffeJan 30, 2020Keeping up with the Janeites, Part IIIn September, we suspected. We hoped. We crossed our fingers. And now it’s confirmed. In perhaps the least likely household on Planet...