Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize for Literature!

[Ken B]

I will say this. He has so far behaved as a classy winner. His book blurb has changed to note the prize, but other than that, nothing. That to me is class.

[Sergeant Rock]

I will say this. He has so far behaved as a classy winner. His book blurb has changed to note the prize, but other than that, nothing. That to me is class.

Has he contacted the Nobel committee yet? Last I heard, he wasn't returning their calls 

Sarge

[snyprrr]

Has he contacted the Nobel committee yet? Last I heard, he wasn't returning their calls 

Sarge

hope he pulls a Brando "I'll accept mine when Obama returns his"

[SimonNZ]

hope he pulls a Brando "I'll accept mine when Obama returns his"

When did Brando say anything like this? And why would Dylan be anti-Obama?

[Ken B]

When did Brando say anything like this? And why would Dylan be anti-Obama?

Brando didn't, as far as I know. Certainly not in his refusal speech, where he instead denounced something he thought was a travesty. But snyprrr expressed a hope, which is not a belief. He hopes Dylan would use his platform to denounce what snyprrr sees as a travesty. That has precisely nothing to do with snyprrr believing or asserting Dylan is "anti-Obama." I for one hope Dylan devotes his speech to denouncing Ben Affleck's directing, but don't expect it or predict it.

[Rinaldo]

I will say this. He has so far behaved as a classy winner. His book blurb has changed to note the prize, but other than that, nothing. That to me is class.

..and it probably wasn't even his idea, because it is gone again.

The simple words "winner of the Nobel prize in literature", which appeared on the page for The Lyrics: 1961-2012, have now been removed. Bob Dylan, Nobel laureate, is once again plain Bob Dylan.

That single sentence was the sole public recognition Dylan had given to the prestigious award, announced last week in Stockholm. According to Sara Danius, the Nobel academy's permanent secretary, attempts had been made to contact Dylan about the award via close associates of his, but he had kept silent.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/21/bob-dylan-unacknowledges-nobel-prize-literature-win-removed-website

[North Star]

 

A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice

[Ken B]

Nice quote. Certainly fits Brando, who was mentioned here, but Dylan has refused nothing so far as I can tell. Except a victory lap.

[San Antone]

Why would he refuse the prize?

[Ken B]

Why would he refuse the prize?

A nice, slow, fat one. Right across the plate. Just hanging there. 

[Rinaldo]

Hah, Cohen himself had something to say about Dylan's award:

"To me," he said, "it's like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/14/leonard-cohen-giving-nobel-to-bob-dylan-like-pinning-medal-on-everest

[North Star]

Bob Dylan: "If I accept the prize? Of course."

On 13 October, 2016, the Swedish Academy announced that this year's Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Bob Dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

This week Bob Dylan called the Swedish Academy. "The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless", he told Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy. "I appreciate the honor so much."

It has not yet been decided if Bob Dylan will attend any events during the Nobel Week in Stockholm in December. The Nobel Foundation will share information as soon as it is available.

http://www.nobelprize.org/press/#/publication/5813bb6c3f5fa7030006bb32/552bd85dccc8e20c00e7f979?

[EddieRUKiddingVarese]

Breaking News Nobel Wins Dylan Prize for Literature................

[Ken B]

Bob showed up to just in time to claim the cash.

[Ken B]

I love the smell of vindication in the morning! It smells like victory.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-accused-of-plagiarizing-nobel-talk-from-sparknotes-w487945

[Todd]

And yet, it's his best work in decades.

[Karl Henning]

"Yet"?

[Karl Henning]

Why Bob Dylan Deserves His Nobel Prize
According to the Swedish Academy, Dylan won "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition"

I have yet to read the article, but my thought (prompted by today's Last Movie You Watched activity) was that Dylan and John Lennon both flourished in infusing pop music (also, in Dylan's case country/folk music) with artfully casual surrealism. It makes (at the very least) a nice change from the wealth of baldly insipid pop lyrics. Also, that by and large, arguably Dylan earns the prize better by his literary than by his musical work.

[Madiel]

Yeah, I read this the other night. I can't remember whether I read it all at the time, I know I read at least some. But that was back in the days when you couldn't unfollow a thread once you'd posted in it...

Frankly I barely know Dylan's work. But I'm on the side of supporting the legitimacy of a literature prize for songwriting on principle. The words matter in really fine songwriting (and this goes for all the Lieder and art song just as much as it does in pop music, though in most cases the 'classical' songwriters of the 19th-20th centuries utilised existing poetry. And the art of writing with the intention that the words be sung is a very specific art - not dissimilar to poets who intend their work to be spoken aloud rather than merely read, and with some relationship to playwrights, but it's own distinct thing. As soon as you extend "literature" beyond the confines of words that are only designed to be printed and read silently, songwriting absolutely counts.

And good songwriting can hit like you wouldn't believe. Again, I barely know Dylan, but writers like Joni Mitchell and Taylor Swift can absolutely whack me between the eyes with a turn of phrase. Other favourites of mine like Tori Amos and Paul Dempsey evoke all sorts of feelings with their surreal combinations. And Patty Griffin just makes everything in the human condition ache. It's an artform that often demands a ruthless efficiency, getting an idea across in a matter of seconds. And that is absolutely a skill.

[AnotherSpin]

Yeah, I read this the other night. I can't remember whether I read it all at the time, I know I read at least some. But that was back in the days when you couldn't unfollow a thread once you'd posted in it...

Frankly I barely know Dylan's work. But I'm on the side of supporting the legitimacy of a literature prize for songwriting on principle. The words matter in really fine songwriting (and this goes for all the Lieder and art song just as much as it does in pop music, though in most cases the 'classical' songwriters of the 19th-20th centuries utilised existing poetry. And the art of writing with the intention that the words be sung is a very specific art - not dissimilar to poets who intend their work to be spoken aloud rather than merely read, and with some relationship to playwrights, but it's own distinct thing. As soon as you extend "literature" beyond the confines of words that are only designed to be printed and read silently, songwriting absolutely counts.

And good songwriting can hit like you wouldn't believe. Again, I barely know Dylan, but writers like Joni Mitchell and Taylor Swift can absolutely whack me between the eyes with a turn of phrase. Other favourites of mine like Tori Amos and Paul Dempsey evoke all sorts of feelings with their surreal combinations. And Patty Griffin just makes everything in the human condition ache. It's an artform that often demands a ruthless efficiency, getting an idea across in a matter of seconds. And that is absolutely a skill.

And that's exactly what's puzzling: "I don't really know or understand much about a particular poet's or musician's work", yet I still feel compelled to voice my opinion.