View Full Version : 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature
Lewis. Faulkner. Hemingway. Steinbeck. Bellow. Singer. Morrison.
And Bob Dylan?
2016 is turning out to be one bizarre year.
What's next, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series?
Glad that I am not the only one feeling very puzzled by this choice.
greenclaire
10-13-16, 4:23pm
Still not as puzzling as Obama winning the peace prize.
catherine
10-13-16, 5:07pm
Are you kidding? I think Bob Dylan is a brilliant choice.
Are you kidding? I think Bob Dylan is a brilliant choice.
"Wiggle Wiggle" by Bob Dylan
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a gypsy queen
Wiggle wiggle wiggle all dressed in green
Wiggle wiggle wiggle till the moon is blue
Wiggle till the moon sees you.
Wiggle wiggle wiggle in your boots and shoes
Wiggle wiggle wiggle you got nothing to loose
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a swarm of bees
Wiggle on your hands and knees.
Wiggle to the front wiggle to the rear
Wiggle till you wiggle right out of here
Wiggle till it opens wiggle till it shuts
Wiggle till it bites wiggle till it cuts.
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a bowl of soap
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle you can raise the dead.
Wiggle till you're high wiggle till you're higher
Wiggle till you vomit fire
Wiggle till it whispers wiggle till it hums
Wiggle till it answers wiggle till it comes.
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like satin and silk
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a pail of milk
Wiggle wiggle wiggle all rattle and shake
Wiggle like a big fat snake !
catherine
10-13-16, 6:20pm
From the NYTimes on September 28, 2013 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/opinion/sunday/knock-knock-knockin-on-nobels-door.html). So this comes 3 years late.
Mr. Dylan’s work remains utterly lacking in conventionality, moral sleight of hand, pop pabulum or sops to his audience. His lyricism is exquisite; his concerns and subjects are demonstrably timeless; and few poets of any era have seen their work bear more influence.
That disruptive mélange gave us the imagery and power of songs like “Chimes of Freedom” and “Desolation Row,” of “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” and “Visions of Johanna,” among scores of others. He has displayed a mastery of everything from the political jeremiad (“It’s Alright, Ma [I’m Only Bleeding])” to the romantic epic (“Tangled Up in Blue”), and lines like “Money doesn’t talk, it swears” show his way with the lancing aperçu. Mr. Dylan is neither a saint nor a moralist. Epic anger and personal petulance erupt out of his lyrics. But so do tender mercies, extravagant and deep love, self-castigation and what turns out to have been no little wisdom.
JaneV2.0
10-13-16, 11:45pm
And who could forget the deathless classic "Lie lady, lie" Oh, wait...
iris lilies
10-14-16, 1:54am
And who could forget the deathless classic "Lie lady, lie" Oh, wait...
Ah well, thats why he won the prize, he is a poet, and us regular folk have to follow grammar rules.
I dont know what I think of this. Interesting choice.
I am more interested in the Pulitzer novel and the Booker prize novel. The Nobel lit winner is always somone I dont read, and in this case, don't listen to.
rosarugosa
10-14-16, 4:42am
I really like Dylan, but I would never have considered his work to be literature.
catherine
10-14-16, 7:59am
I really like Dylan, but I would never have considered his work to be literature.
Literature: written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.
Gee, whiz, is there no one on this board that believes Dylan to be a true poet and a genius? Not to mention that his words became the anthem of a generation? I adore TS Eliot and Walt Whitman and Joyce Carol Oates too, but.. maybe to you guys the ability to move the masses with beautiful lyrics is just a McPoet?
Well, not to me. I think his lyrics are of lasting artistic merit
Ultralight
10-14-16, 8:12am
Straight white male privilege. That is why he got the prize.
catherine
10-14-16, 8:14am
Straight white male privilege. That is why he got the prize.
I give up. Off to play some Dylan tunes.
I give up. Off to play some Dylan tunes.
Catherine, you are quite right. We actually teach Dylan in our American lit class. And I have a PhD in literature, for what that is worth.
My personal favorite is My Back Pages.
A wonderful memory for me is when my son, aged 19 at the time, decided to go with his best friend to a Dylan concert at the last minute, and somehow got front row seats. His best friend was killed in an accident at his Airforce base in Spokane. Gone too soon.
catherine
10-14-16, 8:21am
Catherine, you are quite right. We actually teach Dylan in our American lit class. And I have a PhD in literature, for what that is worth.
My personal favorite is My Back Pages.
A wonderful memory for me is when my son, aged 19 at the time, decided to go with his best friend to a Dylan concert at the last minute, and somehow got front row seats. His best friend was killed in an accident at his Airforce base in Spokane. Gone too soon.
Thank you, Tybee!
I really like Dylan, but I would never have considered his work to be literature.
Reading books is hard. The committee is defining literature down to pop songs. Can prizes for sitcom scripts, advertising copy or video games be far behind?
Even among songwriters, they could have done better than the incoherent voice of a confused generation. Tom Waits and John Prine come immediately to mind.
For them to actually compare Dylan to Homer seems way over the top.
LDAHL--my husband has been walking around the house singing Martha by Tom Waits for days now.
What a great song.
Don't give up catherine! I love your view of just about everything. :)
And you're right about what Dylan gave us. :)
LDAHL--my husband has been walking around the house singing Martha by Tom Waits for days now.
What a great song.
Whenever I start a long road trip, I like to play Ol' 55,if only in my head. I even like the grunts and groans of his expressionist Black Dog period.
ToomuchStuff
10-14-16, 9:48am
Certainly I wouldn't think all of Dylan's works are up to Nobel standards, nor would I think anyone who has won (go look in their trash cans starting out, if you have a time machine). But his music, whether played by him or someone else, did/does have an effect on several generations. Between that, and probably wanting to shut up the guy who has been nominating him, for 15 years in a row, that is my cynical take on it.
Certainly I wouldn't think all of Dylan's works are up to Nobel standards, nor would I think anyone who has won (go look in their trash cans starting out, if you have a time machine). But his music, whether played by him or someone else, did/does have an effect on several generations. Between that, and probably wanting to shut up the guy who has been nominating him, for 15 years in a row, that is my cynical take on it.
Maybe his Victoria's Secret ad put him over the top.
ToomuchStuff
10-14-16, 10:06am
Maybe his Victoria's Secret ad put him over the top.
????
????
https://youtu.be/eBq7SyGtG8Y
I give up. Off to play some Dylan tunes.
From today's Christian Science Monitor, Catherine, I quote and have gained a little greater understanding:
"Today's View
Bob Dylan has never had a screaming fan base. His voice is raspy, appearance scruffy, stage presence not especially charismatic. For more than half a century, however, he has been an iconic American bard who has married music with poetry. His award yesterday of the Nobel Prize for Literature is a recognition of his unique and enormous body of work — uneven, as the work of any artist who constantly challenges himself can be, but enduring.
“He not busy being born is busy dying” could have been written by St. Paul. “How many times must the cannonballs fly/ before they’re forever banned?” is a question everyone horrified by war's persistence asks. “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” is a warning to the complacent. “To dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free” is to celebrate life.
At times bitter, ironic, irreverent, hilarious, spiritual, political, or mystifying, Bob Dylan’s lyrics have always left enough space for the listener to make his or her own meaning. And he put it all to music.
John Yemma"
rosarugosa
10-14-16, 7:25pm
Gee, whiz, is there no one on this board that believes Dylan to be a true poet and a genius? Not to mention that his words became the anthem of a generation? I adore TS Eliot and Walt Whitman and Joyce Carol Oates too, but.. maybe to you guys the ability to move the masses with beautiful lyrics is just a McPoet?
Well, not to me. I think his lyrics are of lasting artistic merit
Catherine, I do agree that his lyrics are of lasting artistic merit, I just never would have classified lyrics as literature.
Not about the Nobel, but more about my wonderful thoughts of Mr. Dylan.
I remember the first time I heard Blood on the Tracks it was the spotlight on Lunch With Leuven on WABX Detroit (1975 I assume) summer after 9th. I was mesmerized to say it lightly. I became the ultimate Dylan fan. I named my oldest son Dylan. On the day I die I have always said, Don't cry, please sit outside and enjoy, drop Blood on the Tracks on and think of me:).
rosarugosa
10-15-16, 4:47am
We have a cat named Silvio, as in:
"Silvio silver and gold
Won't buy back the beat of a heart grown cold
Silvio I gotta go
Find out something only dead men know"
Lewis. Faulkner. Hemingway. Steinbeck. Bellow. Singer. Morrison.
And Bob Dylan?
2016 is turning out to be one bizarre year.
What's next, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series?
One game away from going. If they win it, it will be the first time the WS comes to Wrigley Field since we dropped the bomb on Japan. The last time they won the World Series, Teddy Roosevelt was president.
freshstart
10-21-16, 5:13pm
Tom Waits and John Prine come immediately to mind.
I'm with Catherine and Tybee but Waits or Prine would've been a bold choice
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