Posted on 10/13/2016 12:16:57 PM PDT by Hostage
Bob Dylan, regarded as the voice of a generation for his influential songs from the 1960s onwards, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in a surprise decision that made him the only singer-songwriter to win the award.
The 75-year-old Dylan who won the prize for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition" now finds himself in the company of Winston Churchill, Thomas Mann and Rudyard Kipling as Nobel laureates.
The announcement was met with gasps in Stockholm's stately Royal Academy hall, followed unusually by some laughter.
Dylan's songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They Are a-Changin'," "Subterranean Homesick Blues," and "Like a Rolling Stone" captured a spirit of rebellion, dissent and independence.
More than 50 years on, Dylan is still writing songs and is often on tour, performing his dense poetic lyrics, sung in a sometimes rasping voice that has been ridiculed by detractors.
Some lyrics have resonated for decades.
"Blowin' in the Wind," written in 1962, was considered one of the most eloquent folk songs of all time. "The Times They Are A-Changin'," in which Dylan told Americans "your sons and your daughters are beyond your command," was an anthem of the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests.
Awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($930,000) prize, the Swedish Academy said: "Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound."
Swedish Academy member Per Wastberg said: "He is probably the greatest living poet."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I would suggest there might have been another writer more worthy
Be that as it may Bob does write good songs
Pasternak won the Nobel Prize for a single novel 'Zhivago'.
It was quite complicated and disjoint. The writing wasn't a marvel of plot and devices that would wow a literary critic. The award of the prize to him was deemed political as it shined a light on the brutality and horror of the Russian revolution.
There were many stories and novels of the revolution that were not awarded such a prize. It seemed to many that Pasternak, more a poet than a novelist, was elevated beyond what was deserved. If there had been a 'Grammy' for literature, perhaps that would have been a more suitable award for this 'mediocre' poet, or so some might have thought.
But as this one work sunk into the members of the arts societies, it was recognized as reflecting human nature in its most decrepit and most exalted states. Pasternak wrote Zhivago over more than four decades. His poems were quite good but it was the Zhivago work that won the Nobel Prize.
Of course, David Lean's 1965 film version of Zhivago wowed audiences with its music and melodrama but succeeded in losing the essence of what Pasternak had captured. To reflect what Pasternak had truly captured required a 2002 adaptation. I like this latter film version much better by several-fold in comparison to the 1965 version.
A 2002 trailer of the more Pasternak-faithful version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJAf-NbY9w
The point is the work had to be put to film to illustrate its importance to literature. It was difficult reading and translations from the Russian were lacking in conveying the essence of the human character development. A film was needed to fll the gap.
Would I compare Pasternak with Dylan (Zimmerman)? Absolutely.
Whereas Pasternak's 'Zhivago' provided the backdrop from the viewpoint of an 'individual' to the social upheaval of the collective monstrosity of communism, Dylan's poem-songs provided the backdrop to the social upheaval associated with the turbulent Vietnam era. Dylan's influence on this social aspect was not by design but merely reflective of the times but its influence was so pervasive in the undercurrents of societies around the globe that there were Bob Dylans popping up all over the Soviet Union adding to its downfall. These symbols of resistance captured the spirit of the times. This was Dylan's contribution.
It's important to note that it was not Dylan's voice or talent with musical instruments that made his fame, it was the literary content of his poems turned into minstrel folk songs by deft arrangement that created a new genre of story-telling.
“I’m a poet, I know it, hope I don’t blow it.” Dylan’s lyrics are far superior to what passes for most contemporary poetry today, and I read it, or try to read it. Most of these poets lost their audiences when they abandoned formal qualities like rhythm, rhyme, tempo, for free verse. How much of today’s lyrics can stand on their own, without the music? Not much. In fact, very little poetry can stand without its own internal music. The human heart has a rhythm.
THANK YOU for that ping! Wonderful news, and much deserved!!!!
I’ve probably forgotten more about music and literature than you’ve ever known. This Nobel is a disgrace. Perhaps Gordon Lightfoot could be next. At least he could carry a tune.
Geezers with weed is the most rational explanation.
I’m convinced. Just as worthy as even Shakespeare (if he were eligible).
No one, not one person can rival Shakespeare.
LOL -- good one! That whole episode moved me to tears. To think of that cop riding in a car with him for however long it took her to get back to the station and having no idea how many people would give their arm to spend some time idly chatting with him wow. And picturing him just accepting it and going along, having a new experience and being anonymous for a change double wow!"a complete unknown. Like a rolling stone."
I roomed with Bob and Jimmy Solberg back in ‘71 in Milwaukee, in that old basement flat on Kane Place. I did not know how far he had risen until I started digging LC about ten years ago!
Oh, yeah, that literature thing...
Listen buster, the award is not handed out for carrying a tune, as you with your mastery of musicology, so brilliantly put it.
It’s being handed out for his brilliant and illuminating lyrics that have inspired a generation.
Now go back to reading Game of Thrones and leave me alone.
Very well said. I dare anyone to read the lyrics of “Tomorrow is a Long Time” and not be moved. And then add in the lovely composition.
Brilliant and illuminating lyrics? Just popular protest songs. He did nothing of any intellectual distinction. And what do you know about music? How many times have you performed classical music in front of international audiences? As for the Lightfoot reference, the point, which you missed, was that his “poetry” was at least as good as Dylan’s and he was more musical. As for “inspiring a generation”, Dylan inspired the worst elements of society. Perhaps you should be at DU where no one would doubt the “genius” of Dylan. He deserves a Nobel just like Obama did.
Go lie down in a dark room with a cool cloth across your fevered brow.
I don’t judge artists by their politics but only by their talent. Dylan has contributed markedly to the great American songbook and deserves his award.
As Michael Reidel just said on the radio, he thought Oscar Hammerstein should have received it. Of course, he passed away long ago but he was a remarkable lyricist.
I’m convinced. Now I think that Wolfgang Puck should get the Nobel in Chemistry for his influential contributions to food chemistry.
I lived over on Maryland Avenue, in a big old Victorian House. The Baroques lived on the corner.
Who to choose ... the man who wrote The Burden of Jerusalem, the novelist whose every book I read and loved (until I learned he blew his brains out) ..., or the one who wrote Visions of Johanna
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