Tag Archives: Jane Austen

The Dangers of Emotional Identification

By Robin Bates | Published: February 4, 2020

In which I push back against an article warning about emotional identification with literary characters.

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Playing Cards at an Austen Event

By Robin Bates | Published: October 27, 2019

The game Speculation in Austen’s “Mansfield Park” captured the spirit of the age and reenacted many of the relationship dramas.

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Card Playing in Jane Austen

By Robin Bates | Published: October 22, 2019

Card playing shows up in all of Jane Austen’s major novels but means different things at different times.

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The Dreadful Sound of Trump (not that one)

By Robin Bates | Published: August 20, 2019

Wednesday On Monday I hosted what proved to be a lovely luncheon (an onion tart, ratatouille, and a trifle) for Vanderbilt University Librarian Valerie Hotchkiss, who was in Sewanee to discuss a presentation I will be giving at the university on the card game Speculation. Jane Austen fans will recognize it as the game played […]

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Using Jane Austen to Dissect AG Barr

By Robin Bates | Published: May 1, 2019

Thursday The drama surrounding the Mueller Report continues to become more postmodern with every passing day. Or rather, the Trump administration has been trying to render it so. To highlight how Attorney General William Barr is throwing up smokescreens, I turn to my favorite passage from Sense and Sensibility. First, however, let’s note that the […]

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Imagine Lit Characters in Reality TV

By Robin Bates | Published: January 24, 2019

Thursday I came across this enjoyable tweet from one Ross Danniel Bullen, who imagines a Victorian version of the House Hunters television show: Host: I— Henry James: I should like a kitchen whose concept is – how shall I conceive of it – not closed, not in some way occluded, but bright, agape, unrestrained as […]

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Jane Austen Explains Mansplaining

By Robin Bates | Published: April 25, 2018

Jane Austen understood mansplaining very well. “Northanger Abbey” provides a case study.

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My “Last Lecture”

By Robin Bates | Published: April 16, 2018

I share here my “last lecture” from my retirement ceremony. (But rest assured: I will not be retiring from this blog.)

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Austen: Standing Up to Harassers

By Robin Bates | Published: January 3, 2018

Jane Austen has powerful lessons for those battling systemic sexism.

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