Was Jane Austen Gay?

And other questions from the LRB archive

Tom Crewe, Patricia Lockwood, Deborah Friedell, John Lanchester, Rosemary Hill and Colm Tóibín talk to Tom about some of their favourite LRB pieces, including Terry Castle’s 1995 essay on Jane Austen's letters, Hilary Mantel’s account of how she became a writer, and Alan Bennett’s uncompromising take on Philip Larkin.

Read the pieces:

Terry Castle on Jane Austen

Wendy Doniger: Calf and Other Loves

Hilary Mantel: Giving up the Ghost

Angela Carter: Noovs' hoovs in the trough

Penelope Fitzgerald on Stevie Smith

Alan Bennett on Philip Larkin

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