Whit Stillman among the Janeites

by Deborah Yaffe

His adaptation of Lady Susan downplays a key fact: Austen’s women jockey among themselves for status and power. Men may be the prizes, but they’re not the point. Continue Reading »

1 Jul 2016

Austen the Innovator

by Peter J. Leithart

How Jane Austen changed fiction. Continue Reading »

18 Jan 2016

Mapping Jane Austen

by Peter J. Leithart

Austen's attention to fact. Continue Reading »

1 Dec 2015

Emma's Moral Imagination

by Peter J. Leithart

What Austen's Emma Woodhouse needs is a guide to imagination. Continue Reading »

16 Nov 2015

Austen's Silent Characters

by Peter J. Leithart

Catching Jane Austen in the act of greatness. Continue Reading »

15 Oct 2015

Jane Austen's Names

by Peter J. Leithart

On the significance of names and places in Jane Austen's novels. Continue Reading »

6 May 2015

Notable New Books I Read in 2012, pt. 1

by Carl Scott

The holiday season was too busy for me to compile this sort of list, especially with a move to a new home thrown in, an event that always makes one ambivalent about book ownership anyhow. “Isn’t time to invest in a Kindle?” was the crack my younger economist friend made as we filled . . . . Continue Reading »

19 Jan 2013

Carl’s Rock Songbook #71: Swingin’ Tips for Youth Group Leaders, Courtesy of Whit Stillman and Jane Austen

by Carl Scott

This is going to be an odd essay. The argument, in a nut-shell, is that those officially charged with being our youth leaders, whether by religious groups or schools, as well as those who unofficially are youth leaders, simply by being youths themselves that their peers might follow if invited and . . . . Continue Reading »

21 Nov 2012

Carl’s Rock Songbook #70: Social Dancing as a Key to Whit Stillman’s Films

by Carl Scott

Whit Stillman fans know that his first three films are a loosely connected trilogy of sorts, with THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO being the film that ties them together by means of our meeting key characters from the other two in its Club. How then, does his recent DAMSELS IN DISTRESS, a rather stranger . . . . Continue Reading »

10 Nov 2012

Carl’s Rock Songbook #63: ALMOST FAMOUS, Pt. 5

by Carl Scott

Having written one , two , three , four ALMOST FAMOUS-driven posts and now this one, I obviously do think it is an excellent film. Its one weakness is a certain complacency, underlined by its ending. I don’t have a problem with happy endings per se, but the one it provides really is too easy. . . . . Continue Reading »

18 Sep 2012