Tolkien confirmed.

Yes, that is right. Next to America Herself Tolkien will be definitely the main focus of my BA thesis. However, due to help of our supervisor, I will broach completely different subject than I wrote about in my last post. "Tolkien's letters- Englishman's stereotyped images of America" sounds full title of my thesis. You have no idea how  excited I am about this new subject. In fact, I like it much better than the previous one. 

During upcomig Christmas I will read Tolkien's Letters (primary source for my dissertation)- a book that has been standing on my shelf for two years and every time I was about to take it and read it there was something that disturbed me. In view of the fact that Tolkien actually never visited America I will try to find his perception and stereotypes of America in the letters and then maybe the reflection of this perception in "The Lord of The Rings" or other books of his. 

Possibly, you are familiar with the Facebook profile 'Elendilion- Tolkienowski Serwis Informacyjny'. If not, I strongly recommend you to check it. I've been following this profile for two or three years now and trust me, the quality of their posts is unbelievably good. People who run this news service publish some serious research that is far from amateur, To the point, I have just sent them a message asking for some help an I really hope they will answer me. 

If by any chance, you know any interesting, blogs, websites, newspapers, youtube channels concerning the topic described above, please, let me know! 

I am more than excited about writing on this particular topic. My Tolkien fever has doubled. I am actually liestening to "The Lord of The Rings" audiobook while writing this entry 😂

Cannot wait to read about your progress!

See you all tomorrow! 

Yes, that's right, more changes to come...

Hiya! 

It is time for some update on my BA thesis, right?

“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, leader of transcendentalist movement, and a champion of individualism, in his famous essay entitled “Self-Reliance”. Emerson argues that self- sufficiency gives one the freedom to discover one’s true self and win true independence. Self- reliance, according to him, is the foundation of a productive, efficient, and self-sustaining society. However, the ideas expressed in Emerson’s essay constitute much broader panorama. Namely, Emerson, addressing anonymous individual, addresses the whole America as a country.  This myth of self- reliance presented by Emerson nestled deeply in Americans mentality and gave origin to one of the most paradoxical myths Americans live to date. Over the centuries, they have been emphasizing that all the bonds between Europe and their homeland no longer exists or that they do not need European influences in art, philosophy or politics and the biggest afflatus comes from America herself. America in which they may found everything they need to live happily ever after. Nevertheless, the perfect image of self- reliance does not exist. I wanted to prove it in my dissertation by employing the greatest Europeans names whose ideas may be found in the creations of the biggest Americans figures. I wanted to demonstrate that Emerson was wrong and that Americans are not able to come up with everything by themselves. When I wrote this sentence I got scared. After all, undermining ideas of one of the greatest figure in America is quite risky.

And then I saw our supervisor to discuss my BA thesis and things changed again. I was proposed a new topic, still closely related to Tolkien, which I am totally excited about! Check my next post to read more about it.

Out of the blue

 Hello, hello, hello!

That's it guys! I think I might have found the perfect subject for my dissertation. It's 11.22 PM and literally 5 minutes ago, out of the blue, it came to me!

I think you remember one of our first classes when we got short passages concerning American myths and paradoxes connected to them. Well, my passage was about America's self- reliance and separation from Europe that, actually, has nothing to do with reality. You may also remember that I am absolutely and completely in love with Tolkien and everything he had ever created. With some spontaneous help from Ania I managed to combine these two things into my, hopefully, perfect subject! It took, at least partially, weight off my mind.

I have to tell you that I really enjoy reading your blogs, especially other Łucja's blog (now it is time to admit that simply all Łucjas are awesome). I am literally jealous of how straightforward and structured her thoughts are. At the same time there is always something interesting to read about. I am also really impressed by Ania's last entry, strictly speaking, by the subjecet she came up with for her dissertation. The Myth of Perfect American Housewife is super- cool! I am sure some great piece of work will come into existence!

Since December is already here I am no longer ashamed of my Christmas fever that is in full swing! I got tons of fairy lights, baked gingerbread and, obviously, watched more cheesy Christmas movies. Less enthusiastic is my wallet, I suppose because of all the gifts I have to buy. Nevertheless, the view of my goddaughter opening her presents is worth the money!

I hope you are all well, despite quite freezing weather.

See you on Monday!
Toodles!