Deborah Yaffe
Author of Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom
About the Author
Deborah Yaffe has worked as a reporter for the Asbury Park Press, the Jersey Journal, and the Recorder of San Francisco.
Image credit: Photo by Randall Hagadorn
Works by Deborah Yaffe
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Yaffe, Deborah
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Yale University (BA, 1987)
University of Oxford (MA, 1989) - Occupations
- freelance writer
journalist - Short biography
- Deborah Yaffe, the author of Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom, has been a passionate Jane Austen fan since first reading Pride and Prejudice at age ten. She joined the Jane Austen Society of North America at sixteen; owns an impressive collection of Austen-themed coffee mugs, bookmarks, tote bags and DVDs; and spends way too much time hanging around the Republic of Pemberley (www.pemberley.com) arguing over whether Anne Elliot or Captain Wentworth is more to blame for their eight-year estrangement.
As a newspaper reporter in New Jersey and California for more than thirteen years, Yaffe covered education, the law, and state government. Her first book, Other People’s Children: The Battle for Justice and Equality in New Jersey’s Schools, initially supported with a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a gripping narrative history of the state’s efforts to provide equal educational opportunities to rich and poor schoolchildren.
Yaffe holds a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Yale University and a master’s degree in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University in England, which she attended on a Marshall Scholarship. She works as a freelance writer and lives in central New Jersey with her husband, her two children, and her Jane Austen Action Figure.
Follow her on Twitter (@DeborahYaffe); visit her website, www.deborahyaffe.com; and drop by the Among the Janeites Facebook page (www.facebook.com/amongthejaneites). - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- New Jersey, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- New Jersey, USA
Members
Reviews
A really interesting overview of Jane Austen fandom touching upon the cross-roads of popular fandom and scholarly criticism.
I absolutely love Jane Austen's books, but I wouldn't call myself a Janeite. Still, I was curious and Degrees of Affection thought highly enough to recommend it as worth reading. I tend to read non-fiction right before going to sleep, and this book was perfect for that; each chapter looks at a different facet of Jane Austen's appeal and how a love for her books has show more directed the course of many lives in unique directions. As none of the chapters are overly long, it was easy to pick up the book each night, read a chapter or two, and put the book down with a sense of completion.
As I said, I wouldn't call myself a Janeite; when it comes to books, I'm a live-in-the-moment kind of reader; books don't often haunt me after I've finished them (maybe that's why I so enjoy re-reading good books?). But it would seem there's a little bit of the rabid fan in me, as I discovered when I got to chapter 7 "Austen Therapy". I could start going on at this point about child rearing in Regency England amongst the monied class, but that would drag this on forever, so let me just sum it up by saying this:
Mr. Darcy is NOT on the spectrum!!!!
Which leads me to my favorite quote of the book: "You know, sometimes people aren't autistic, they're just dicks."***
I was surprised at how strongly I reacted to this chapter - the previous chapter discussing Arnie Perlstein's theory about "shadow stories" in each of Jane Austen's works I found merely absurd, but this chapter actually made me – not angry – but..exasperated.
Still I really enjoyed the writing of the book; the author remains mostly neutral throughout, and I found the biographies of the fans Ms. Yaffe focussed on intriguing. An excellent read.
*** Please note that I do not in any way disparage the legitimacy of the autistic spectrum, or those that find themselves struggling with autism to any degree. I save my disparagement for those that want to plug everyone they meet (or read) into a diagnostic hole. Sometimes people are just rude, ill-bred, or in Darcy's case, a product of their times, class and cultural mores. show less
I absolutely love Jane Austen's books, but I wouldn't call myself a Janeite. Still, I was curious and Degrees of Affection thought highly enough to recommend it as worth reading. I tend to read non-fiction right before going to sleep, and this book was perfect for that; each chapter looks at a different facet of Jane Austen's appeal and how a love for her books has show more directed the course of many lives in unique directions. As none of the chapters are overly long, it was easy to pick up the book each night, read a chapter or two, and put the book down with a sense of completion.
As I said, I wouldn't call myself a Janeite; when it comes to books, I'm a live-in-the-moment kind of reader; books don't often haunt me after I've finished them (maybe that's why I so enjoy re-reading good books?). But it would seem there's a little bit of the rabid fan in me, as I discovered when I got to chapter 7 "Austen Therapy". I could start going on at this point about child rearing in Regency England amongst the monied class, but that would drag this on forever, so let me just sum it up by saying this:
Mr. Darcy is NOT on the spectrum!!!!
Which leads me to my favorite quote of the book: "You know, sometimes people aren't autistic, they're just dicks."***
I was surprised at how strongly I reacted to this chapter - the previous chapter discussing Arnie Perlstein's theory about "shadow stories" in each of Jane Austen's works I found merely absurd, but this chapter actually made me – not angry – but..exasperated.
Still I really enjoyed the writing of the book; the author remains mostly neutral throughout, and I found the biographies of the fans Ms. Yaffe focussed on intriguing. An excellent read.
*** Please note that I do not in any way disparage the legitimacy of the autistic spectrum, or those that find themselves struggling with autism to any degree. I save my disparagement for those that want to plug everyone they meet (or read) into a diagnostic hole. Sometimes people are just rude, ill-bred, or in Darcy's case, a product of their times, class and cultural mores. show less
Suddenly I find myself wanting to order a tailor-made Regency gown, re-read every Jane Austen novel and spend a week on the fan sites and blogs about her.
I want to go to JASNA! (Please imagine me crying this out in this manner) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8O8CmVi5Y8
More accurately (just didn't have the same ring to it) I want to go to the Jane Austen Society of North America's next Annual General Meeting, which is more of a blast than it sounds, if Deborah Yaffe's description is in any show more way accurate.
Oh boy oh boy, this book was such a treat. Yaffe started the book describing how her own love of Jane Austen started and the rest of the book was the research, interviews and travel she did in the year leading up to the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth, Texas. She interviewed Janeites of every stripe, from professors to fan fiction authors (and of course she had to read a lot of Jane Austen fan fiction too—it made me so happy that she didn't poo-poo it), from obsessive bloggers to collectors of Austen memorabilia (one lady bought a lock of Austen's hair!). She went on a Jane Austen tour, visiting where she had lived and sites of film adaptations (I also want to do this, by the way, if anyone's looking for the perfect birthday gift for me). Every chapter was interesting, well-written and respectful of the different ways people understand and appreciate Austen. Her words in her last chapter sum this up nicely.
I spent a summer reading Jane Austen while I was hiking The Camino de Santiago in France and Spain with my husband in 1996. Like many, I caught the fever after watching the BBC miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I remember getting it one or two tapes (yeah, I'm that old) at a time with a friend and doing a small cheer when the library had the last couple on hand right when we were ready for them. I read Northanger Abbey before my hiking trip and finished Sense and Sensibility about the time we realized we were going to have to skip most of the French side of the route. An Australian couple we met on the hike traded us a guide to the Spanish route for our copy of Sense and Sensibility . In cities along the route, I would pick up my next Jane Austen book, read it when we'd stopped for the day, and when I was done, I would leave it behind in one the pilgrim refuges where we stayed. I wonder how many people passed those books around as they hiked the Camino. Maybe they're still in circulation. At the end of the trip, I had a surprise treat. We spent a couple of nights in England before flying out of London for home. An unplanned excursion to Winchester Cathedral landed me where Austen was buried. What a special way to end my summer of Austen. Reading about other Jane Austen fans and their experiences brought this all back to me, and will probably cause anyone who reads it to smile and remember too. show less
I want to go to JASNA! (Please imagine me crying this out in this manner) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8O8CmVi5Y8
More accurately (just didn't have the same ring to it) I want to go to the Jane Austen Society of North America's next Annual General Meeting, which is more of a blast than it sounds, if Deborah Yaffe's description is in any show more way accurate.
Oh boy oh boy, this book was such a treat. Yaffe started the book describing how her own love of Jane Austen started and the rest of the book was the research, interviews and travel she did in the year leading up to the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth, Texas. She interviewed Janeites of every stripe, from professors to fan fiction authors (and of course she had to read a lot of Jane Austen fan fiction too—it made me so happy that she didn't poo-poo it), from obsessive bloggers to collectors of Austen memorabilia (one lady bought a lock of Austen's hair!). She went on a Jane Austen tour, visiting where she had lived and sites of film adaptations (I also want to do this, by the way, if anyone's looking for the perfect birthday gift for me). Every chapter was interesting, well-written and respectful of the different ways people understand and appreciate Austen. Her words in her last chapter sum this up nicely.
We are a tribe, we Janeites. We name our children and our pets after people who never existed, treat an elderly screenwriter like a rock star, and seek twenty-first century life lessons in two-hundred-year-old books, or the tarot cards based on them. Our love for Jane Austen unites us, and yet sometimes it seems that we all love something, or someone, different...We make our Austen into a reflection of our own preoccupations, a teller of our own stories...The rich diversity of responses to Austen captures something real about her—the depth and complexity of her writings, which like diamonds held up to sunlight, reflect something different from every angle.
I spent a summer reading Jane Austen while I was hiking The Camino de Santiago in France and Spain with my husband in 1996. Like many, I caught the fever after watching the BBC miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I remember getting it one or two tapes (yeah, I'm that old) at a time with a friend and doing a small cheer when the library had the last couple on hand right when we were ready for them. I read Northanger Abbey before my hiking trip and finished Sense and Sensibility about the time we realized we were going to have to skip most of the French side of the route. An Australian couple we met on the hike traded us a guide to the Spanish route for our copy of Sense and Sensibility . In cities along the route, I would pick up my next Jane Austen book, read it when we'd stopped for the day, and when I was done, I would leave it behind in one the pilgrim refuges where we stayed. I wonder how many people passed those books around as they hiked the Camino. Maybe they're still in circulation. At the end of the trip, I had a surprise treat. We spent a couple of nights in England before flying out of London for home. An unplanned excursion to Winchester Cathedral landed me where Austen was buried. What a special way to end my summer of Austen. Reading about other Jane Austen fans and their experiences brought this all back to me, and will probably cause anyone who reads it to smile and remember too. show less
Fan non-fiction about fan fiction, cosplay, scholarship centered on Jane Austen -- and I thought Trekkies were eccentric and uber-passionate! Ms. Jaffe, a journalist, is an avowed Janeite herself and she set out to find a common thread among the wide array of fans who worship all things Austen. She interviewed other fans, explored fan fiction, traveled to England for an Austen pilgrimage, and attended meetings of the Jane Austen Society of North America. The latter organization throws an show more annual ball in which the guests dress in Regency style and try to out-Austen each other; Ms. Yaffe joined in. Ms. Jaffe's writing is excellent, a dose humor with a lot of facts and some good observations about human nature, in general, and its many manifestations among the Janeites. Overall, an entertaining read. show less
I think Among the Janeites is a book that belongs on many-a Janeites shelves. The casual Janeite, the one who just likes a swoony read staring a certain Austen hero from time to time, may not feel so compelled to have this book, but for the rest of us (the ones who would totally dress up for a JASNA ball, or have watched every adaptation more than once, and are ready to debate any aspect of Austendom at the drop of a kidglove), this shouldn't just be a wanted addition to our shelves, but a show more needed one. 'Cause the thing is - this is about us. You will recognize yourself in these pages. And Among the Janeites isn't some stuffy outsider's look at "those crazy/lonely women" who "sit at home with the pause button on Colin Firth in clingy pants." It was written by one of us.
Well, I should clarify a touch - Deborah Yaffe is most assuredly a lifelong Janeite, but there is an occasional sneering quality to the writing (in the beginning, especially). This at first kind of bothered me, but then started to really amuse me - in a weird way, it felt really true, and since it changed as the book progressed, losing some of its biting edge, it started to represent the journey of becoming a full-fledged, card-carrying Janeite. By this I mean, in the beginning of the book, as we're learning about Yaffe herself and why she decided to write the book, there is occasionally this judgmental tone that creeps in: an, Oh, you're one of those Janeites... That tone that says, You don't really like Jane, you don't really understand her - you just like wet-shirted Colin Firths and I ♥ Darcy coffee mugs. That tone that says, I would never lower myself to dressing up in an Empire-waist dress and frolicking about a ballroom. That tone that says, I would never read all those fan-fictions with their inappropriate Darcy/Lizzie sexytimes and their mangling of Austen's language and stories. That tone. It wasn't over-riding, but it was there.
BUT THEN.
But then, Yaffe did read the fanfictions. She did order a custom-made Empire-waist dress. She decided, if she was going to do this, she was going to do this, and she dove in head first. And That Tone started to slip away... And this was so very perfect a representation of the trajectory of a "typical" Janeite - that haughty, "no one can love her like I love her" air, sliding into shameless fandom - that I was positively tickled. I've been that sneering Janeite; most of us have, and some of us will never stop being that Janeite. Some of us even shudder at the very word Janeite, for fear that we'll be lumped in with THOSE PEOPLE. (But then, some of us take our Jane Austen action figures on vacation with us, so...) But as Yaffe learned, there really is room for all types within the fandom, and as crazy as we are, we all bring a little something to the table. And that slightly-judgy tone in the beginning of the book didn't really bother me so much anymore because, hell, been there, done that. If you'd asked me 6 years ago if I would ever read a Jane Austen fanfiction, I'd have laughed in your face. Needless to say, times have changed. ;) (Not about the dressing up part, though, because I have always and will always be down for that.)
I love how Yaffe dove in and did all those things she never thought she'd do. I love how she committed and tried everything, talked to everybody. And I love all the people she met, how very different they all were - the only thing most of them have in common, really, is their passion, and I love that some of those people maintained their academic, somewhat sneering attitude, but it didn't mean they love Austen any less (or any more), just that they love her differently. We all do, in our way. That's what's so amazing about Jane Austen, about her as a fandom - there are so many ways to love her, to lover her stories, her characters. There are so many ways to be a Janeites. I met a lot of fellow Janeites in the pages of this book, and I felt like I knew them, different as they all were. They felt homey to me, and some of them I wanted very badly to meet (or, you know, be for a bit. Why didn't I help starts a bajillion-dollar networking company, and then use my money to freaking buy Chawton Great House, and also Urban Decay? A) Why wasn't I aware that the founder of one of my favorite makeup brands was a massive Janeite, and B) How do I become this person?) I learned things about Austen and about the fandom that I never knew. I added to my list of Janeite Things I Must Do. And more importantly, since this is first and foremost a book, I was amused while doing so. The writing is engaging, thorough without being bogged down, passionate but with enough reserve to assess and describe a situation. It works equally-well as a piece of non-fiction and as an enjoyable read, and I have to praise Yaffe for that.
Like I said, it's a book that deserves a spot in your Janeite collection. show less
Well, I should clarify a touch - Deborah Yaffe is most assuredly a lifelong Janeite, but there is an occasional sneering quality to the writing (in the beginning, especially). This at first kind of bothered me, but then started to really amuse me - in a weird way, it felt really true, and since it changed as the book progressed, losing some of its biting edge, it started to represent the journey of becoming a full-fledged, card-carrying Janeite. By this I mean, in the beginning of the book, as we're learning about Yaffe herself and why she decided to write the book, there is occasionally this judgmental tone that creeps in: an, Oh, you're one of those Janeites... That tone that says, You don't really like Jane, you don't really understand her - you just like wet-shirted Colin Firths and I ♥ Darcy coffee mugs. That tone that says, I would never lower myself to dressing up in an Empire-waist dress and frolicking about a ballroom. That tone that says, I would never read all those fan-fictions with their inappropriate Darcy/Lizzie sexytimes and their mangling of Austen's language and stories. That tone. It wasn't over-riding, but it was there.
BUT THEN.
But then, Yaffe did read the fanfictions. She did order a custom-made Empire-waist dress. She decided, if she was going to do this, she was going to do this, and she dove in head first. And That Tone started to slip away... And this was so very perfect a representation of the trajectory of a "typical" Janeite - that haughty, "no one can love her like I love her" air, sliding into shameless fandom - that I was positively tickled. I've been that sneering Janeite; most of us have, and some of us will never stop being that Janeite. Some of us even shudder at the very word Janeite, for fear that we'll be lumped in with THOSE PEOPLE. (But then, some of us take our Jane Austen action figures on vacation with us, so...) But as Yaffe learned, there really is room for all types within the fandom, and as crazy as we are, we all bring a little something to the table. And that slightly-judgy tone in the beginning of the book didn't really bother me so much anymore because, hell, been there, done that. If you'd asked me 6 years ago if I would ever read a Jane Austen fanfiction, I'd have laughed in your face. Needless to say, times have changed. ;) (Not about the dressing up part, though, because I have always and will always be down for that.)
I love how Yaffe dove in and did all those things she never thought she'd do. I love how she committed and tried everything, talked to everybody. And I love all the people she met, how very different they all were - the only thing most of them have in common, really, is their passion, and I love that some of those people maintained their academic, somewhat sneering attitude, but it didn't mean they love Austen any less (or any more), just that they love her differently. We all do, in our way. That's what's so amazing about Jane Austen, about her as a fandom - there are so many ways to love her, to lover her stories, her characters. There are so many ways to be a Janeites. I met a lot of fellow Janeites in the pages of this book, and I felt like I knew them, different as they all were. They felt homey to me, and some of them I wanted very badly to meet (or, you know, be for a bit. Why didn't I help starts a bajillion-dollar networking company, and then use my money to freaking buy Chawton Great House, and also Urban Decay? A) Why wasn't I aware that the founder of one of my favorite makeup brands was a massive Janeite, and B) How do I become this person?) I learned things about Austen and about the fandom that I never knew. I added to my list of Janeite Things I Must Do. And more importantly, since this is first and foremost a book, I was amused while doing so. The writing is engaging, thorough without being bogged down, passionate but with enough reserve to assess and describe a situation. It works equally-well as a piece of non-fiction and as an enjoyable read, and I have to praise Yaffe for that.
Like I said, it's a book that deserves a spot in your Janeite collection. show less
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- Works
- 2
- Members
- 217
- Popularity
- #102,845
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 20
- ISBNs
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