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The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
- jcrei 10y agoCome writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin' For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'.
- htaunay 10y agoExcellent comment/verse, given the context. Congrats on the insight.
- Noseshine 10y agoAlthough listening to that song now I find it somewhat sad and dispiriting, because the "change" that came in the decades following that proclamation, was it really a change? Looking at politics and society? I think of that song in the context of its use in "Watchmen" [0] as more realistic. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUDdQS2UxA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUDdQS2UxA
- Ntrails 10y agoThat film is without question my favourite set of opening credits, and honestly I think that short outdoes the rest of the film by an order of magnitude.
- ekianjo 10y agoThe rebel became part of the institution in the end. Somewhat sad if you ask me.
- Angostura 10y agoOnly sad if you believe that he didn't effect change in teh institution.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- employee8000 10y agoBased on current American society and especially the election, I would say he effected no change unfortunately.
- josu 10y agoIn the time since Dylan started signing black people went from having very limited rights to winning a presidential elections. Obviously, there are many more factors than Dylan at play, and establishing causality, or the lack of thereof, is impossible. But, in my opinion, saying that society has not changed would be a big mistake.
- nihonde 10y agoAttributing any of that "progress" to Bob Dylan is a huge reach. He has a lot of fans and reached some segment of the population with his act, but he's basically just another guy peddling records and tap dancing for nickels.
- praveer13 10y agoThis is an unfortunate outlook in my opinion. Art and literature are definitely more important than mere entertainment. The greatness of an artist is determined by how much impact they had on a society.
- josu 10y ago>Attributing any of that "progress" to Bob Dylan is a huge reach. While that's true, Bob Dylan was most likely the reason behind Hurricane's retrial, so that's something: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_(Bob_Dylan_song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_(Bob_Dylan_song)
- elcapitan 10y agoWell he hasn't accepted the award yet ;)
- 77pt77 10y agoAlso known as the baby-boomer curse.
- paganel 10y agoFound this 1968 song from an Israeli singer a couple of weeks ago, whose title says it all: "The Hippies Of Today Are The Assholes of Tomorrow" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joZU1fMFCAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joZU1fMFCAo).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- tnecniv 10y agoEh, I don't know unless you are referring to some event I am not familiar with. Yeah he's not writing protest songs anymore (unless you ask him [1]), but since he went electric, he's been doing what he wants, not what's expected of him. I saw him on tour this year, and it was a strange experience. The performance, song choice, and delivery felt more like he was just doing his music thing and I was paying to watch -- he wasn't trying to entertain me. [1] I saw a video of this interview, but I can't seem to find it now, so https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_songs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_songs_in_the_United_St... will have to do. Search for "all my songs"
- efuquen 10y agoI think Dylan would never have called himself a 'rebel' to begin with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guOaI6_cF10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guOaI6_cF10
- 77pt77 10y agoThis should be a textbook example of the halo effect.
- cooper12 10y agoReminds me of Jean-Paul Sartre's letter in which he rejected the Nobel Prize: > The writer who accepts an honour of this kind involves as well as himself the association or institution which has honoured him,” he said at the time. “The writer must therefore refuse to let himself be transformed into an institution, even if this occurs under the most honourable circumstances, as in the present case. (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/05/sartre-nobel-prize-literature-letter-swedish-academy https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/05/sartre-nobel-p...)
- wlievens 10y agoIsn't that somewhat what My Back Pages is already about?
- nathancahill 10y agoOh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears Bury the rag deep in your face For now's the time for your tears
- giarc 10y agoGreat song - for those wondering, it is The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol by Bob Dylan. I think the lyrics are more powerful in context of the rest of the song[0]. 0- https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tjwyq4ppzw6s7xatkamydgv4wty?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-songlyrics&u=0# https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tjwyq4ppzw6s7xatkamydg...
- nathancahill 10y agoNPR(?) did an excellent analysis of the lyrics and rhymes in the song a while ago, but I can't find the episode.
- nathancahill 10y agoFound: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12702088 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12702088
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- techbio 10y ago"I just want to know how your head feels under something like that/Under your brand new leopardskin pillbox hat" - Bob Dylan, 1966
- retox 10y agoWas always a fan of these lyrics that are unfortunately still relevant; http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Dylan:Masters_Of_War http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Dylan:Masters_Of_War You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatenin' my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins
- dzdt 10y agoThe times, they are a-changin'! Never expected to see a songwriter honored with this prize.
- haalcion2 10y agoThank goodness! He deserves it much more than Peter, Paul, and Mary.
- d3ckard 10y agoGreat! Funny thing, just have been talking with friend this morning about his special status as a songwriter. Very brave and I believe right choice.
- xamuel 10y agoFantastic! Anyone know if it's the first Literature Nobel given to a pure singer-songwriter? Here are three Dylan songs with big literary value: * "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts": an amazing example of musical story-telling * "The Ballad of a Thin Man": Some of the most post-modern lyrics ever put to music... * "Like a Rolling Stone": One of the most influential songs of all time
- smnscu 10y ago'Hurricane' always gives me chills. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_(Bob_Dylan_song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_(Bob_Dylan_song) Here's a great video on 'All Along The Watchtower'. I'm rewatching this today to celebrate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In6gCrGeZfA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In6gCrGeZfA
- retox 10y agoRhyming "imagination" with "tax-deductible charity organizations" is worthy of a Nobel any day.
- DocTomoe 10y agoTechnically, Dylan has written a number of novels, short stories and Poems and as such would not really qualify as a "pure singer-songwriter", even though the Nobel Prize comittee's reasoning references his work as a singer-songwriter...
- stplsd 10y agoTo me it's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" "He not busy being born is busy dying" must be one of greatest lines ever.
- nabla9 10y agoBob Dylan now has Nobel Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Officier de la Legion d'honneur, Pulitzer, 12 Grammy's, Golden Globe, Academy Award, ...
- hackerkid 10y agoHe's the second person in history to have an Oscar and a Nobel Prize. The first being George Bernard Shaw.
- martinbalsam 10y agoAnd Al Gore
- peter303 10y agoI believe Al Gore won both a Nobel and Oscar.
- oblio 10y agoI'm a bit confused here. Was that before or after he invented the Internet? - - - By the way, you're a mean person peter303, Al Gore is a nice person. - - - Edit: Oh, I spoke too soon. He actually has a Nobel, a Grammy and an Emmy award. That's actually even more impressive than I expected.
- mikeash 10y agoFor anyone wondering why suddenly there are two Al Gore jokes here, like I was, it's not a joke: he won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth.
- justinator 10y agoAnd the National popular vote for President of the United States!
- rob-alarcon 10y agoAl Gore didn't win the Oscar, he gave the acceptance speech on behalf of the director of the documentary, he won a grammy though.
- mustermaster 10y agoYou don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows
- Overtonwindow 10y agoAm I the only one who said "Bob Dylan‽"
- PaulRobinson 10y agoNo. No, you were not.
- Overtonwindow 10y agoBless that man. It saddens me that when I finally saw him in concert his voice had long since gone.
- matt4077 10y agoYeah, I was pretty disappointed as well. But he wouldn't be touring if he didn't enjoy it.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoWhich voice? He's used several. His voice really changed a lot after the motorcycle wreck that about killed him.
- avisser 10y agoI always love playing "Lay Lady Lay" for people and asking if they know who it is. His voice is unrecognizable due to the months in the hospital w/o cigarettes.
- Overtonwindow 10y agoOH wow I didn't know that. This was in ... 2010. His voice had the sound of a death rattle, absolutely unrecognizable.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoHe's always ... distorted his singing voice. The motorcycle wreck was 50 years ago and he about broke his neck. He cracked a vertabrae. At least in recordings his voice was different after that, but it's impossible to say how much was mechanical damage and how much was his Bobness reinventing himself again.
- du_bing 10y agoI'm blowing in the wind...for I have no job...
- circlefavshape 10y agoDespite being a massive admirer of Dylan's work, I'm not sure that I'm good with this > for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition There's no doubt he did this, but ... do songs count as literature? I'm not really sure they do, and much as I love the songs, the lyrics by themselves don't have anything like the impact (on me at least) of top-notch poetry
- coldtea 10y ago>There's no doubt he did this, but ... do songs count as literature? They should. Literature and poetry started from rhapsodies, sagas, and other forms of song-based storytelling, and it's not very good that it diverted so much to some kind of literary ivory tower.
- kriro 10y agoI'm curious. Should screenplays also be eligible for the nobel in literature?
- stinkytaco 10y agoSeveral dramatists have won the Nobel in Literature. Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Elfriede Jelinek, and probably some I'm not remembering. EDIT: Eugene O'Neil, Jacinto Benavente, Dario Fo
- gkya 10y agoSadly Fo has passed away today.
- georgespencer 10y agoAnd should novels be eligible for songwriting awards?
- CPLX 10y agoIf they have a tune and you can dance to them.
- barrkel 10y agoSets a useful precedent - songwriters are the poets of our time and are under-appreciated from a critical perspective. There's still time for Leonard Cohen; he'd have been my choice. But another songwriter probably won't happen again so soon.
- redwood 10y agoA less well known but powerful Dylan song, sung by his then lover Joan Baez (from Palo Alto) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUZGGFOV6FM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUZGGFOV6FM With God on Our Side (Live 1966)
- stinkytaco 10y agoAs part of the Bootleg Series, Dylan released recordings of the Rolling Thunder Review tour where this song features. It's one of my favorite live albums and Dylan at probably the most satisfied and happy point of his career.
- 543y4eryy4 10y agoIt boggles my mind how people still are paying attention to the nobel's price. Other examples of useless shit they done: * giving Obama the peace price after he failed to shut down Guantanamo * giving president of Colombia the peace price after he failed to make peace with FARC.
- awesomerobot 10y agoThe Nobel "you tried" Peace Prize
- dagw 10y agoThe Nobel peace prize has little to do with the 'real' Nobel prizes or Nobel committee. It's administered by an entirely different organization, in a different country and with different rules and criteria.
- tom_mellior 10y ago> It's administered by an entirely different organization, in a different country and with different rules and criteria. This part is true, but that's because Nobel explicitly specified it this way. The peace prize is one of the original "real" ones. As opposed to the one for economics, which was made up later by others. (And, well, that contributions to world peace are judged by "different rules and criteria" than physics... makes some sense.)
- bzbarsky 10y agoYou're right that a basic failure here is the way the prize was set up. Unlike the Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature prizes, which are awarded by actual practitioners in those fields, the peace prize is awarded by whatever 5 people the Norwegian Parliament selects that year. Neither these people nor the Parliament selecting them necessarily have anything to do with "work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses", unfortunately. As a result, they don't seem to have quite as strong an incentive to make good choices, on either a personal or institutional level, as the selection processes for the other Nobel prizes. I think this difference in _who_ is doing the awarding and how they are related to the people receiving the awards is what dagw was trying to get at above. It's the difference between experts in a field selecting prizes for other members of their field and democratically-elected politicians playing political football with prizes in a field they themselves are totally not involved in and likely not much interested in to start with. :(
- Zelmor 10y agoWell deserved.
- roberto2016 10y agoGive me a break!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- adaisadais 10y agoInside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues You can tell by the way she smiles "Visions of Johanna" I don't think that anyone in modern culture has impacted society in the ways Bob has.
- Quequau 10y agoFinally some news that makes me truly happy!
- tambourine_man 10y agoWell, I guess I can play a song for you Yours truly, Tambourine Man
- mbrock 10y agoMy love, she speaks like silence Without ideals or violence She doesn't have to say she's faithful Yet she's true like ice, like fire
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y agoWhat's up with the low-effort comments in this thread?
- hiou 10y agoBob Dylan was never a rebel. He was a generic pop singer loved by basics for generations.
- qwertyuiop924 10y agoNot a rebel, maybe. Generic, anything but. He left a mark on music, and to call his fans "basics" is an insult to him, his fandom, and his legacy.
- gjm11 10y ago> a generic pop singer So, er, have you ever actually heard him sing? (I'm not a big fan myself, though I admire his craft. But generic? Really?)
- dekhn 10y agoGeneric? Pop? Hmm, I think you must be trolling.
- hiou 10y agoThe music industry packaged up singers like Dylan for whichever vertical they needed. Anyone who was able to navigate that system as successfully as he did was certainly not a rebel and the music itself was nothing extraordinarily unique if you look into the long tail of music being made at the time. It's like saying 7-Up is the uncola and you are rejecting the establishment by drinking it instead of Coke.
- dekhn 10y agoYou're hilarious.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago>The music industry packaged up singers like Dylan for whichever vertical they needed. What singers like Dylan? Have you ever listened to him? His voice is... not exactly a common sound. >the music itself was nothing extraordinarily unique if you look into the long tail of music being made at the time. No music is entirely unique. But some people do it better than others, add their own twists, and build something unique. >It's like saying 7-Up is the uncola and you are rejecting the establishment by drinking it instead of Coke. Frankly, he's no longer anti-esblishment, if he ever was. But that doesn't mean he's a talentless hack, which seems to be what you're claiming.
- forrestbrazeal 10y agoSomewhere, Steve Jobs is smiling.
- spiderjerusalem 10y agoWhy?
- duaneb 10y agoHe was a big fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXt0_LxP6ug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXt0_LxP6ug
- cafard 10y agohttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/04/books/l-positively-fourth-rate-099279.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/04/books/l-positively-fourth-... On the whole I agree with Rorem. But on the range of Nobelists for Literature, I guess that Bob Dylan isn't all that much an outlier.
- OrthoMetaPara 10y agomaybe Michael Crichton or the Harry Potter lady will win it next year...
- joshaidan 10y agoEverything is Broken always felt like a theme song for my job in telecommunications at a service provider. Especially the parts about broken lines and broken switches. That's just how universal Dylan's literature really is: Broken lines, broken strings Broken threads, broken springs Broken idols, broken heads People sleeping in broken beds Ain’t no use jiving Ain’t no use joking Everything is broken Broken bottles, broken plates Broken switches, broken gates Broken dishes, broken parts Streets are filled with broken hearts Broken words never meant to be spoken Everything is broken Seem like every time you stop and turn around Something else just hit the ground ... YouTube version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngVMh3vJsVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngVMh3vJsVU
- poetwind 10y agoPerhaps to top it with Nobel Prizes are broken?
- samblr 10y agoWell, I try my best To be just like I am But everybody wants you To be just like them - Maggie's Farm
- pilsetnieks 10y agoIt seems that Haruki Murakami is the Leonardo DiCaprio of Nobel prizes.
- kzisme 10y agoWhat is your favorite book by him? I've only read once thus far. "What I talk about when I talk about running"
- fluxquanta 10y agoI'm not the OP, but Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore are my favorites.
- kzisme 10y agoThanks! I'll check them out.
- kristianov 10y agoHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Check it out, it's his personal favourite [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World#Critical_reception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the...
- Steko 10y agoCan't recommend this enough, it's probably my favorite single piece of fiction.
- duaneb 10y agoWild Sheep Chase and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are also quite good. His tone can vary a lot from book to book, from absurdity (Wild Sheep Chase) to straight up nostalgic, umm, romance(?) (Norwegian Wood).
- cr1895 10y agoWind-up Bird Chronicle is my favorite of his works that I've read.
- fitzwatermellow 10y agoTotally 100% well deserved. Just imagine the 13 year old out there discovering "Masters of War" or "Idiot Wind" for the first time today. Their entire point of view is about to change. Mind upon to hitherto unknowable vistas. Ergo, the absolute benchmark of what Great Literature strives to embody. Also worth checking out is Dylan's controversial speech upon receiving the the MusiCares Person of the Year 2015 award. I wonder what he'll have to say to the World when he gets to Stockholm ;) Read Bob Dylan's Complete, Riveting MusiCares Speech http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/read-bob-dylans-complete-riveting-musicares-speech-20150209 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/read-bob-dylans-compl... And of course some essential viewing. D.A. Pennebaker's seminal documentary classic Don't Look Back which follows Dylan on his concert tour of the U.K. in 1965. Inside Criterion's Incredible Restoration of Dylan Doc 'Don't Look Back' http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/inside-the-restoration-of-dont-look-back-20151127 http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/inside-the-restorati... And from that timeless English tour, a masterful performance ;) "It Ain't Me Babe" (Live, 5/7/65 - Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d8o8vNTNao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d8o8vNTNao
- stinkytaco 10y agoAlso No Direction Home, which encompass and expands on Don't Look Back is equally excellent.
- mcphilip 10y agoThat MusiCares speech is a great read if you have 30 minutes to spare. A few favorite bits: On Dylan's immersion in classic folk: >If you sang "John Henry" as many times as me – "John Henry was a steel-driving man / Died with a hammer in his hand / John Henry said a man ain't nothin' but a man / Before I let that steam drill drive me down / I'll die with that hammer in my hand." If you had sung that song as many times as I did, you'd have written "How many roads must a man walk down?" too. On what's often missing from rock & roll: >The other half of rock & roll has got to be hillbilly. And that's a derogatory term, but it ought not to be. That's a term that includes the Delmore Bros., Stanley Bros., Roscoe Holcomb, Git Tanner and the Skillet Lickers... groups like that. Moonshine gone berserk. Fast cars on dirt roads. That's the kind of combination that makes up rock & roll, and it can't be cooked up in a science laboratory or a studio.
- 6stringmerc 10y agoI'm not sure literature would be as highly esteemed if oral history and the bards / singers / poets had not established roots in various cultures as the way to convey large, abstract or emotional things. They're good relatives I think. Writing by the masses is still fairly new in the grand scheme of things. Singing songs to each other, quite a bit longer tradition, from what I can tell looking through some stuff back in uni (including an Early Middle English course).
- mariusmg 10y agoIt's like giving a medicine award to yoga instructor.
- hobochili 10y agoDarkness at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon The handmade blade, the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon To understand you know too soon, there is no sense in trying Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool's gold mouthpiece the hollow horn Plays wasted words proves to warn That he not busy being born is busy dying Temptation's page flies out the door You follow, find yourself at war Watch waterfalls of pity roar You feel to moan but unlike before You discover that you'd just be one more person crying So don't fear if you hear A foreign sound to your ear It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- pjmorris 10y agoI love how so many on the thread have Dylan lyrics to contribute. Seems like empirical evidence for his impact. I listened obsessively to every shred of Dylan I could lay my hands on when I was a teenager. With apologies to Bob Dylan... Then she opened up a book of poems And handed it to me Written by an American poet From the twentieth century And everyone of them words rang true And glowed like burnin' coal Pourin' off of every page Like it was written in my soul From me to you Tangled up in blue
- dev360 10y agoThis song is my personal favorite :) Thanks for posting.
- xHopen 10y ago.... I mean... I don't know , really I don't know... you put close to each other Bob Dylan and Mario Vargas Llosa and you want to cry
- busyant 10y agoHas Dylan himself commented on the award? He's unpredictable (and irascible) enough to make me want to hear what he thinks about all of this.
- poetwind 10y agoI have always wondered what is blowing on the wind, it seems Dylan must have captured something important, I am still wondering many things and thinking that wind curves are very windy. Added: For a good singer it must be fatal to be poisoned with the virus of fame, you become one more commodity, good for selling books and records but no more genuine value. I hope the next Nobel in Literature to be for a twitter writer, I don't have anything against Dylan, it is only that I find his works are not Literature but very good songs.
- ashkulz 10y agoAm I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hard Why am I walking, where am I running What am I saying, what am I knowing On this guitar I'm playing, on this banjo I'm frailin' On this mandolin I'm strummin', in the song I'm singin' In the tune I'm hummin', in the words I'm writin' In the words that I'm thinkin' In this ocean of hours I'm all the time drinkin' Who am I helping, what am I breaking What am I giving, what am I taking But you try with your whole soul best Never to think these thoughts and never to let Them kind of thoughts gain ground Or make yer heart pound But then again you know why they're around Just waiting for a chance to slip and drop down -- Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie
- kristianc 10y agoI can't help but come back to: A South politician preaches to the poor white man "You got more than blacks, don't complain You're better than them, you been born with white skin" they explain And the Negro's name Is used it is plain For the politician's gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game. YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KY2lQV3ADfc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KY2lQV3ADfc As it seems especially relevant today. It's a song about the killing of civil rights activist Medgar Evers by a poor white farmer in the 60's. Dylan addresses the civil rights movement in a way that avoids laying the blame squarely at the feet of the angry racist who pulled the trigger, instead placing the blame with politicians who sow hatred, insecurity, fear and division for their own ends and don't care what mess they leave behind. When I see Trump rallies today full of angry people complaining their country has been 'taken from them' I can't help but think of that song.
- 1337biz 10y agoIt is about time to officially introduce the 'Reductio ad Trumperum'.
- kristianc 10y agoNot quite - as a strategy by Republican politicians (and Democrats before that) it predates Trump by quite a long way.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 10y ago> it predates Trump by quite a long way Are you suggesting history existed before I was born?
- rdiddly 10y agoI hear a whooshing sound. Reductio ad Trumperum or something similar (I'm not real 'up' on my Latin grammar) would presumably mean "reduce to Trump." You know, like summing up a complex & nuanced issue in terms of how it supposedly relates to Trump. You're saying people have been doing this -- as a -strategy- mind you -- since before Trump existed?
- hasbroslasher 10y agoMust've been a slow year for books
- leephillips 10y agoI never really "got" Bob Dylan. https://lee-phillips.org/dylanreally/ https://lee-phillips.org/dylanreally/
- guelo 10y agoThis goes up there with Obama's Nobel for peace. It's an insult to the thousands of more deserving real authors. Baby Boomer's 1960s pop culture has been overhyped for so long that it's just exhausting at this point. I always find it disgusting that Dylan is celebrated as anti-war even though he wrote Neighborhood Bully, a rabid defense of Israel's wars where he ridicules calls for peace.
- emodendroket 10y agoNobody's written any books recently?
- nathancahill 10y agoListen to this excellent literary analysis of one of Bob Dylan's best songs: https://beta.prx.org/stories/19352 https://beta.prx.org/stories/19352 "Christopher Ricks, Professor of Humanities at Boston University explores the poetry in Bob Dylan's songs."
- grellas 10y agoA real testament to the power of imagery when skillfully and artfully handled. Dylan himself was something of a hustler in his own way (not being negative here: he was also quite an amazing person) but he worked hard at his craft, delving deeply into Lord Byron and many others to hone his poetic skills - and it showed! So many artists gained fame doing his songs owing to the limitations of his own signing voice (his has a raw quality that is appealing in its own right but probably more for specialized audiences as compared to what the signing groups with more of a popular bent could achieve). "Can't sing, can't play" was one putdown popular in that era. But oh how this music soared from one with a raw force, a poetic inspiration, and a truly superb talent whatever the technical limitations - and all wrapped up with the zeitgeist of the times, perfectly capturing the sense and urgency of the civil rights movement. Very nice to see the accolades now being bestowed on a man who effectively changed a generation in profound ways.
- ionwake 10y agoI can't find a video or pod cast of this anywhere - anyone got a link ?
- godson_drafty 10y agoI disagree with the Nobel committee here. They choose to ignore numerous deserving, hard-working writers toiling in obscurity and instead heap more praise on one of the most worshipped musicians of the era.
- BurningFrog 10y agoMy main complaint about Dylan is his terrible singing voice. Imagine what could have been if he had swallowed his pride and teamed with a great singer! Of course, this complaint is invalid for a literature prize, so I can only say it's well deserved. Maybe this can open up for film and TV writers to be considered. They're the ones mostly filling the storytelling needs book authors did when Nobel instituted the prize.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- whiddershins 10y agoI watched this great documentary on Ramblin Jack Ellis, I highly recommended it, and one thing I learned was "singing pretty" was against the aesthetic of that folk movement. So, no I don't think he should have teamed up with a singer.
- dwyer 10y agoDo you mean Ramblin' Jack Elliot? If so then it's ironic because Bob Dylan wrote in his autobiography about Elliot's voice and guitar playing and that he was jealous when he first heard it because it was more or less what he wished he could sound like. I personally also think he has a great voice.
- os7borne 10y agoIs it just me or has the conversation on this thread gone completely off topic?
- johansch 10y agoThis might be interesting; the original, Swedish/English/French/German-language announcement, including audience reaction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ybJQs8_rs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ybJQs8_rs (Yeah, the "permanent secretary of the Swedish academy" is showing off her multilingual skills quite a bit...)
- ehudla 10y agoTwo famous laureates are Sartre and Bertrand Russell. Both wrote more in more conventional genres for the prize, but most think the prize was awarded not simply for the literary quality of their work. Another thread connecting their awards with Dylan is that all three authored widely read and acclaimed autobiographies or memoirs.
- ternaryoperator 10y agoIt's important to note that Sartre refused the Nobel Prize because he felt that a writer should not be part of an institution. That's a moral courage that's rarely seen.
- youdontknowtho 10y agoThere is a line from Paul Simon from the 60's about how people who called him and Dylan poets didn't read real poetry. (aww snap) I dig Dylan, though. He's awesome.
- Kaka4 10y agomany congratulations to him
- seizethecheese 10y agoWe've reached peak Boomer.
- Salamat 10y ago"Bob Dylan hasn't Recanted Praise for Rabbi Meir Kahane.Yes, you read that right. Bob Dylan said Meir Kahane, who favored the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland and whose racist Kach party has since been banned from Israeli politics, is “a really sincere guy” who’s “really put it all together.” https://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bob-dylan-joins-forces-with-the-neighbourhood-bully/ https://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bob-dylan-joins...
- xkaycd 10y agoI know I'm super late to the game, but Neighbourhood Bully is really underappreciated. Great song, great poetry. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=neighbourhood+bully https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=neighbourhood+b...
- tofupup 10y agoneat