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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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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
6
CryptoJane, Part II
Jane Austen’s famous remark about the relative value of tangible and intangible assets–“tho’ I like praise as well as anybody, I like...
Deborah Yaffe
Dec 1, 2022
1
Regency reality
For some Janeites, fandom entails an intense engagement with the material details of Austen’s world. These Janeites are the people who...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 28, 2022
0
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
2
The pendulum swings
The smashing success of Netflix’s Bridgerton has ushered in a new era of multiracial casting in Regency costume dramas. This is good...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 13, 2022
0
Still talking
It’s never a bad time to talk about Persuasion–really, what are you doing that’s more important?--but right now may be an especially good...
Deborah Yaffe
Aug 11, 2022
0
Cue the wine and cheese
Last spring, as blog readers will recall, the London Times announced that Persuasion was the sixth most popular book on TikTok, the...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 25, 2022
0
Something to talk about
Google the Omniscient doesn’t seem to know if it was Henry Ford, P.T. Barnum, or somebody else entirely who first declared, “I don’t care...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 21, 2022
0
In praise of repression
Early on in Netflix’s polarizing new adaptation of Persuasion, Anne Elliot leafs through a scrapbook in which she has preserved accounts...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 18, 2022
0
Janeites in conversation
“It is such a happiness when good people get together--and they always do,” Miss Bates exults in chapter 21 of Emma. In context, she is...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 11, 2022
1
Damage control
You’re a couple of weeks away from premiering your new movie. Your core audience has been vacuuming up every scrap of news about the...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 7, 2022
0
That trailer
During an overseas visit earlier this month, I was too swamped with family business to follow the news with my usual attention. This...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 27, 2022
4
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