Jane Austen has fallen foul of hyper-Americanisation
It is tempting to wonder what Jane Austen might have made of the times we live in. A master of skewering egos and puncturing pomposity, she would…
British culture doesn’t need ‘fixing’ by American ideology
The Americanisation of British culture is, sadly, nothing new. But teens are no longer simply finishing sentences with a rising inflection after hours of watching Friends; the…
‘It’s sad Colin Firth isn’t in it’: Duchess of Cornwall swoons over Mr Darcy’s shirt
The duchess, an avid Austen reader, was taken on a tour of the author’s former home in the village of Chawton, near Winchester in Hampshire, and was…
Sanditon, series 2, review: Bridgerton’s chaste cousin gets second chance to win our hand
Bridgerton launched on Christmas Day, 2020. Six months later, Sanditon was reprieved by BritBox and PBS. The two events may not be unconnected. As Alison Heywood (Rosie Graham) said in…
A mischievously fun modern take on Jane Austen’s Persuasion
Jane Austen meets Lizzo in Jeff James’s bold contemporary take on Persuasion, which swaps bonnets and balls for bikinis, pop songs and a foam party. It makes…
I’m a lifelong feminist – so why can’t I get along with Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own?
Anyone considering him or herself well-educated should have read Virginia Woolf. Yet she has always seemed to me one of the most troublesome literary figures of the…