Dr Rita J. Dashwood's Avatar

Dr Rita J. Dashwood

@rjdashwood.bsky.social

Literary Scholar and Historian of the 18th and 19th Centuries | FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Ghent University, The Heiress: Women, Property and Economics | Author of Women and Property Ownership in Jane Austen, and Reading the Romantic Ridiculous

3,479 Followers  |  1,874 Following  |  74 Posts  |  Joined: 30.09.2023  |  2.112

Latest posts by rjdashwood.bsky.social on Bluesky

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I had so much fun teaching a seminar on Pride and Prejudice and its adaptations for an MA Book History class at Ghent University this afternoon, concluding with an analysis of my favourite modern reimagining, @ihatejoelkim.bsky.social's Fire Island 😊

#janeausten #prideandprejudice #fireislandmovie

04.12.2025 17:53 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Two new invitations to submit to this journal just this week. All because of the article I wrote with @drbeard79.bsky.social, β€˜Sadist, Land Shark, and Reptile: Autumn de Wilde’s EMMA.' I'll be sure to mention this the next time I'm asked about my research impact at future interviews 😜

04.12.2025 10:30 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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So grateful to the wonderful people at Shibden Hall for showing me around and sharing their knowledge of Anne and the house during my visit 😊

(I highly recommend visiting it during Halloween πŸŽƒ )

#shibdenhouse #annelister #halifax

30.10.2025 21:30 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It’s SO worth visiting, I absolutely loved Shibden and Halifax in general, can’t wait to go back! And it’s a very easy journey from Liverpool πŸ˜‰

30.10.2025 19:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Who wouldn’t? 😊

30.10.2025 19:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Loved visiting Halifax during my research trip to see Shibden Hall and Anne Lister’s letters at West Yorkshire Archive Services as part of my project, The Heiress: Women, Property and Economics, 1780-1900, at Ghent University 😊

(And yes, I did get the fish soap 😁)

#annelister #shibdenhall #halifax

30.10.2025 18:25 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

It was also amazing to see @19thcenturyem.bsky.social, whose BA dissertation I supervised, present her incredible PhD research on Jane Austen and the ridiculous invalid at the seaside in Sanditon!

12.07.2025 13:06 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

It was great fun! πŸ˜ƒ

12.07.2025 13:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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a man is sitting at a table with a bowl of boiled potatoes in front of him . Alt: Tom Hollander’s Mr Collins is sitting at a table with a bowl of boiled potatoes in front of him .

Day 2 of #GlobalAusten250 and I mainly pretended to be @rjdashwood.bsky.social (in my drag persona of Regina Blitz), thinking about sexy memes and epistolary detective work

12.07.2025 05:34 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Day 2 of the #GlobalAusten250 Conference. The sea witch (aka hay fever) stole my voice, which means that @drbeard79.bsky.social delivered the drag show of a lifetime by reading my paper for me on my FWO-funded research. Had a great time listening to his own fabulous paper on Netflix’s Persuasion!

12.07.2025 09:43 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

A fabulous first day at the #GlobalAusten250 Conference in Southampton with some really great papers on Austen adaptations and tourism! The highlight for me was @devoney.bsky.social’s paper about the Pride and Prejudice adaptations that never were - can’t wait for her upcoming book, Wild for Austen!

10.07.2025 21:25 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
A black and white pic of Austen riffing on the Cassandra sketch in pink rimmed shades with her signature and an unlikely quote

A black and white pic of Austen riffing on the Cassandra sketch in pink rimmed shades with her signature and an unlikely quote

Welcoming everyone to #GlobalAusten250, Gillian Dow coins a GREAT collective noun: an intelligence of Austenians

10.07.2025 14:14 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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In Southampton and excited to see everyone at the #GlobalAusten250 Conference tomorrow!

09.07.2025 22:12 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

So excited for this tomorrow!! 😊

09.07.2025 20:13 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Reading the Romantic Ridiculous Reading The Romantic Ridiculous aims to take Romantic Studies from the sublime to the ridiculous. Building on recent work that decentres the myth of the solitary genius, this duograph theorises the ri...

Got Β£50 from Routledge today which *might* be profit on Reading the Romantic Ridiculous?

Fancy finding out what Β£50-worth of fuss is about (including low Coleridge, silly Austen, and my own and Charlotte Smith’s vulnerabilities)?

You can buy / request it for your library here:

24.06.2025 12:21 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
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You co-write one article with @drbeard79.bsky.social about Autumn de Wilde’s EMMA. with the word β€˜shark’ in the title and this is what happens πŸ˜‚

19.05.2025 07:08 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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2 years ago I was in Brussels for my FWO interview 😊 Cut to right now and I’m halfway through my project at Ghent University, The Heiress: Women, Property and Economics, 1780-1900
(Yes, they were advertising the new Queen Charlotte Bridgerton show and no, sadly she doesn’t feature in my project πŸ˜„)

12.05.2025 19:30 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Reading the diaries of a nineteenth-century female estate owner where she writes that she lectured a female servant for getting married and β€œnot being proclaimed.” Why would her mistress lecture her for not proclaiming her banns? Because something could have been found out about the groom? Curious🧐

12.05.2025 14:07 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Tumblr post that reads: kill the imposter syndrome in your head because not only is there someone out there doing it worse than you, they're also using chat gpt to do it

Tumblr post that reads: kill the imposter syndrome in your head because not only is there someone out there doing it worse than you, they're also using chat gpt to do it

Saw this and thought my oomfs' feeds could use this

11.05.2025 13:45 β€” πŸ‘ 19820    πŸ” 9070    πŸ’¬ 46    πŸ“Œ 139

Yes!! Think of all the history they’re missing out on if they don’t know Britney’s first albums!

09.05.2025 14:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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a close up of a woman 's face with a phone in her ear ALT: a close up of a woman 's face with a phone in her ear

I had such a great time today watching @ihatejoelkim.bsky.social’s Fire Island with my MA students as part of my Jane Austen in Popular Culture module πŸ˜ŠπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ (Though it was a little disconcerting to realise, during one of my favourite scenes, that they had never listened to Britney Spears’s Sometimes!)

09.05.2025 14:31 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I was wondering if there are any academics here who have experience in producing both outputs for the general public and academic outputs out of a single research project, such as an academic monograph and a trade book. If so, please DM me, I would love to hear about how it can be done πŸ™‚

21.04.2025 14:17 β€” πŸ‘ 34    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 1
Image of article on a laptop screen with a tiny Doc Holliday doll in the foreground looking on approvingly.

Image of article on a laptop screen with a tiny Doc Holliday doll in the foreground looking on approvingly.

Howdy, y'all! 🀠 I have a new article just out in @jofvictculture.bsky.social - If you want to read about Doc Holliday, L.T Meade, & Victorian discourses of Tuberculosis & Murder then check it out here: academic.oup.com/jvc/advance-...

You're a daisy of you do! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

01.04.2025 09:51 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Now that the birthday of the person this was a gift for has passed, I can share the gorgeous commission that my incredibly talented friend @fierengraw.bsky.social made for me 🀩

16.01.2025 11:33 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes please, it will be lovely to see you!

07.01.2025 19:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I missed @BSECS last year, so I'm even more excited to be making my way to Oxford today for this year's conference. I will be presenting on Wednesday on Mary Verney’s inheritance of Claydon House, as part of my research for my Heiress project at Ghent. Looking forward to seeing everyone! #BSECS2025

07.01.2025 14:13 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Finally, the only academic book of the list: β€˜Reading the Romantic Ridiculous’ by @drbeard79.bsky.social and @rjdashwood.bsky.social! It was so lovely to read the culmination of a project that was quite instrumental in getting me really into Romanticism πŸ₯°

31.12.2024 20:33 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
A green background with covers of the following books on it:
Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M Lavery
Reading the Romantic Ridiculous by Andrew McInnes and Rita J Dashwood
A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
Propa Propaganda by Benjamin Zephaniah
Les MisΓ©rables adapted by Marcia Williams
The Seasons by Jo Sinclair
A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
Γ€ cinq heures nous serons tous morts ! by Charles Jeanne.

A green background with covers of the following books on it: Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M Lavery Reading the Romantic Ridiculous by Andrew McInnes and Rita J Dashwood A Flat Place by Noreen Masud A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe Propa Propaganda by Benjamin Zephaniah Les MisΓ©rables adapted by Marcia Williams The Seasons by Jo Sinclair A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat Γ€ cinq heures nous serons tous morts ! by Charles Jeanne.

My 2024 reading wrap-up/top 10! A thread!

31.12.2024 20:33 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Reading the Romantic Ridiculous Reading The Romantic Ridiculous aims to take Romantic Studies from the sublime to the ridiculous. Building on recent work that decentres the myth of the solitary genius, this duograph theorises the ri...

I wrote a book! With the wonderful @rjdashwood.bsky.social! Even after this came out, I found myself defaulting to β€˜what have I achieved this year? Nothing and again nothing’. Ridiculous!

31.12.2024 08:20 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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