This summer, the Jane Austen world lost one of its preeminent scholars, Deirdre Le Faye, who studied and wrote about the Regency author for 40 years. Le Faye died Aug. 16 at age 86.
One of her contributions, “Jane Austen’s Letters,” which Le Faye collected and edited, will be the subject of next year’s Jane Austen Summer Program. According to the Guardian, she was working on the fifth edition at the time of her death.
Poring over the numerous letters Austen wrote, Le Faye reflected in her introduction, "as fragments — fragments of observation, of characterization, of criticism — they are in the same class as the material of the novels; and in some respects they have a wider range."
Le Faye’s other works include: “A Chronology of Jane Austen and Her Family: 1600–2000,” “Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels,” “Jane Austen's Country Life,” and the fun “So You Think You Know Jane Austen?: A Literary Quizbook,” which she wrote with John Sutherland.
We’ve compiled a few noteworthy obituaries and remembrances (some are behind a subscription wall, though free trials are available):