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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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Janeites, Janeites everywhere
These days, it’s de rigueur in some circles to think of Jane Austen as a closet lefty: subversive social satirist, anti-slavery...
Deborah Yaffe
Apr 23, 2018
P&P on ice
The Winter Olympics are over, but not without a fleeting Jane Austen moment. Last week, as my daughter and I were sitting glued to the...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 26, 2018
Jane Austen tidbits
Although it’s been a quiet few weeks on the Austen beat, at least compared with last year’s bicentenary frenzy, a few bits of Janeite...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 19, 2018
Jane Austen in the age of the selfie
Long, long ago – wait, was it only 2009? – a clever young man named Seth Grahame-Smith interpolated zombie references into the text of...
Deborah Yaffe
Feb 12, 2018
On this day in 1813. . .
Thirtieth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Two centuries ago, Jane Austen was brimming over with the joy...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 29, 2018
Onion Story Pleases Discerning Janeite Reader
Like all Internet-connected Janeites, I had a good giggle last week about the Onion story headlined, “Man Wishes Women In Crowded Bar...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 22, 2018
Shades of Pemberley
Jane Austen’s name and image have been appropriated for so many ancillary items – fridge magnets, tote bags, coffee mugs, temporary...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 28, 2017
Pie and prejudice
Thanksgiving Day is upon us once again, and once again it’s time to search the works of Jane Austen – who, as an Englishwoman who never...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 23, 2017
The wild and wanton Jane Austen
Fifty-three years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote that, while he could not fully define hard-core pornography, “I...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 19, 2017
Men who won't take no for an answer
Jane Austen anticipates current events in Hollywood: Northanger Abbey, ch. 15: “ ‘Did you ever hear the old song ‘Going to One Wedding...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 16, 2017
P&P game-playing
Austen adaptations, whether on stage, screen or fanfic page, all too often fall victim to an excess of earnestness – the bonnets, the...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 12, 2017
On this day in 1813. . .
Twenty-sixth in an occasional series of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters. Janeites often wonder how Jane Austen would feel about her...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 25, 2017
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