Deborah YaffeFeb 15Taking libertiesIn 2021, London theatergoers got a Pride and Prejudice with interpolated pop songs and an all-female cast. In 2022, they got a...
Deborah YaffeJan 18NotedWhen my children were in grade school, their English teachers often required them to annotate their reading: For each chapter, students...
Deborah YaffeOct 12, 2023Bowled overIn the early days of our romance, my now-husband, a Brit with a deep fondness for the sports of his island home, tried valiantly to...
Deborah YaffeAug 24, 2023Sourcing 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 3, 2023RepresentRepresentation is a hot topic in literary circles these days, as publishers reckon (late, slowly, and imperfectly) with their long...
Deborah YaffeFeb 16, 2023Speaking 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 13, 2023TriggeredIn 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 12, 2023Alumni 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...