Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
In a surprise turn of events, rock star Bob Dylan has been announced the winner Nobel Prize for Literature for 2016. The times they are a-changin
Rock legend Bob Dylan, who recently turned 75, has just been announced winner of this year's Nobel Prize for Literature. Who saw that coming?
The news was revealed this morning by Professor Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, in a statement that is brief, but hard to argue with: "the Nobel Prizes for Literature is awarded to Bob Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
Announcement of the 2016 #NobelPrize in Literature https://t.co/VXayV4bvhC
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 13, 2016
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, the prolific singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has been one of the most influential musicians of all time, with a career that spans over five decades and is still inspiring emerging artists. His classic albums, including The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks, are still hugely respected while songs like Blowing In The Wind and Like a Rolling Stone have become part of the fabric of everyday culture.
Dylan is the first American to win the prize in over two decades (Beloved author Toni Morrison picked up the prize in 1993) and the first musician to do so. The decision is sure to stir up some controversy, but Danius seems comfortable with the choice. “He is a great poet in the English speaking tradition,” she says. “For 54 years now he’s been reinventing himself constantly, creating new identities.”
When asked where one should start with Dylan, Danius suggests his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. “It’s an extraordinary example of his brilliant way of rhyming and putting together refrains, and his pictorial thinking.”
It may look like the definition of literature is being stretched with this surprise announcement, but Danius doesn’t see it that way. “If you look back 2,500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho, and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to. They were meant to be performed, often with instruments. And it’s the same with Bob Dylan. We can read Homer or Sappho and enjoy it, and the same with Bob Dylan. He can be read and should be read.”
Danius says she hasn’t spoken to Dylan yet, but she looks forward to giving him the news. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.