Dylan? Nobel Prize?

[Shyheels]

Okay, I admit I am not a fan of his but even people I know who are devoted were bemused to learn he'd been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I just don't get it, beyond its being the ultimate sop to the Boomer generation. 

I would imagine the vast majority of people under the age of 50 would have trouble placing the name, and virtually no millennials would have heard of him at all. Not that obscurity has ever been a barrier to winning the prize - since when has the Prize gone to an author the man on the street has even heard of, let alone read? 

Makes you wonder who will be the Nobel Laureate in 2056. Adele? Taylor Swift? Katy Price? 

[gibby]

President Barrack Obama received Nobel peace prize  when he took office and a few peoples eye lids fell off and still a few want to know why he received one?   I do believe there were a few more people that deserved the Nobel instead of him.   But this is not a political discussion.      So   I will stick to being happy wearing my strappy sandals!

[Shyheels]

Yes, Obama seems a nice enough guy but what he could possibly have accomplished as a senator from Illinois to warrant his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was a real head scratcher. It couldn't have been for anything he'd done as president because he'd barely been in office five minutes.

These sorts of things make the award kind of meaningless 

[Bubba136]

4 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Okay, I admit I am not a fan of his but even people I know who are devoted were bemused to learn he'd been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I just don't get it, beyond its being the ultimate sop to the Boomer generation. 

I would imagine the vast majority of people under the age of 50 would have trouble placing the name, and virtually no millennials would have heard of him at all. Not that obscurity has ever been a barrier to winning the prize - since when has the Prize gone to an author the man on the street has even heard of, let alone read? 

Makes you wonder who will be the Nobel Laureate in 2056. Adele? Taylor Swift? Katy Price? 

Ranks right up there with Obama getting the peace prize, doesn't it?

Edited October 14, 2016 by Bubba136

[meganiwish]

Neither should obscurity be a barrier to winning the prize.  The question is whether your writing has influenced literature in a wider sense.  I would suspect that Dylan's hasn't.

[Shyheels]

I agree about obscurity not (necessarily) being a barrier to becoming a Nobel Laureate, but the fact remains that it has been many years since a popularly read author won that prize. It's difficult to see how any of the recent winners could possibly have influenced literature in any global sense. J.K. Rowling would have a stronger claim in that regard  

[meganiwish]

I'd be intrigued to know how Rowling has influenced literature beyond showing that plagiarism is OK.  I appreciate, that might be your point.  I don't see anything wrong in a popularly read author winning the prize.  It's a fair question whether popularity is a measure of literary worth.

[Shyheels]

As Mickey Spillane one said to a disparaging critic, "If the public likes ya, you're good."

[meganiwish]

The public liked Jedward.

[Shyheels]

I suppose we can assume then that he/they/it should be sitting by the phone this time each year awaiting the gong from Stockholm! 

[meganiwish]

Do you suppose that he/they/it have ever heard of Stockholm?  He/they/it would probably land up in Oslo.  It worked for Gorbachev and Kissinger, so why not?  I was thinking of applying for one myself, but I'm not convinced that I'm responsible for the deaths of enough people to qualify for a Peace Prize.  I bet Jedward is/are.  Just to share the world with him/them is to die a little.

[Shyheels]

I see that Dylan can't be bothered going to Stockholm to pick up his Nobel Prize. What an arrogant prat. When one thinks of the deserving writers out there - genuinely deserving talent - who could and should have had such an award, one despairs. Dylan for the Nobel Prize in Literature is like seeing McDonalds awarded a Michelin star.

What next? Donald Trump for the Nobel Prize in Economics?

Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize? Oh, wait they already did that.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Shyheels

[meganiwish]

Maybe Dylan finds the whole thing embarrassing and wants nothing to do with it.

[Shyheels]

Then he should say so.

as it is he says he's too busy to attend

[meganiwish]

If he wants nothing to do with something that he didn't apply for, why should he do anything?  They gave a Peace Prize to Gorbachev, for goodness sake, who had his country wage war in Afghanistan.  Why would he feel they deserved his respect?

[Shyheels]

Again, he should come out and say so. Saying he's too busy just makes him sound like a prat.

[meganiwish]

Assuming he deals with his own PR.  It's interesting that 'Nobel Laureate' went on to his website and was then removed.  Perhaps he's just being too polite to say, 'Sod off and leave me alone.'  He's an old man.  Why should he explain himself?

[Shyheels]

He is not being polite at all, let alone too polite. At best he's acting like some farouche adolescent. There's such a thing as grace. 

[Amanda]

I don't think Dylan is the man you recognise. He's far to famous and effected. The Dylan you knew is long gone.

[Shyheels]

Bingo!

Sartre famously turned down the prize but he had the character to say he was turning it down, and explain his reasoning.   

[Bubba136]

I read recently that he does intend to go to Sweden and accept it in person.  We will just wait and see.

[meganiwish]

21 hours ago, Shyheels said:

He is not being polite at all, let alone too polite. At best he's acting like some farouche adolescent. There's such a thing as grace. 

Touchee.  That said, he's an old man, and lack of grace is one of the things we often forgive in the old. 

Amanda, I wouldn't expect him to be the man he was,  but I never thought that much of him before.  Neither was Ted Hughes much of a man, nor for that matter Dylan Thomas, by many accounts.

The more I think about it the more I agree that songwriting was indeed one of the major outputs of literary endeavour in the second half of the twentieth century.  The other one was writing for television.  I don't deny that Dylan was a great songwriter, but for this he seems like a lazy choice.

[Shyheels]

He's not that old, he's 75. Not like he's 95 with one wheel in the sand. 

If they were going to give the award to a singer songwriter out of the 60s, they could always have picked Joni Mitchell. She runs rings around Dylan in terms of writing talent and what's more, she can sing.

As you say, songwriting and television screenplays have become important literary mediums in the 21st century. On which basis Matt Groening must surely be in line for a gong from Stockholm, given his large body of work and the way it addresses the human condition.

And when he wants to do a Dylan and express his disdain for the Nobel, he could always tweet - Eat my shorts.

[meganiwish]

'The years of man are three-score and ten'.  I think 75 can count as old.  I'm entirely with you on Joni Mitchell.  I think her words bring their own music to the party.  'Just before our love got lost you said...'  You don't really have to hear the rest of the song.  Dylan could never manage that.

[meganiwish]

You know, Mike Scott, the erstwhile Waterboy, recently released an album of Yeats put to music.  I haven't heard it, nor do I want to.  I think highly of Mike Scott, but I don't like the arrogance of putting his own music to words that are meant to make music in the reader's mind.  It's just him saying. 'Hear what I hear.'  Now, I bet we could fill pages with superb covers of songs written by Dylan, so here's a challenge, post a favourite, alongside a link to the Dylan original, so that we can compare.  It won't always be unfavourable to the writer.  I'll start us off  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qa67c_bob-dylan-chimes-of-freedom_music and http://www.bing.com/search?FORM=INCOH2&PC=IC04&PTAG=ICO-af4fe336&q=chimes+of+freedom+the+byrds I chose this carefully, because there is undoubtedly poetry in the language, at least snatches of it, but I think the Byrds bring the music.  Or do they do a Scott?  You tell me.

Edited November 24, 2016 by meganiwish

[swedeheeler]

He didn't show up at the Nobel price ceremony.

Surprised? Nah...

[Shyheels]

He's a boor

[Bubba136]

Who cares?

[HappyinHeels]

Shyheels,

You're a little off on this one. Not only have the "Millenials" heard of Bob Dylan but they know the value of him as a pivotal singer/songwriter in American music. The interesting thing about music from the 1970's and 1980's is that it is as popular with the people who actually grew up with it (myself) as it is with their millenial children (my son and daughter). It has withstood the test of time. In fact there has been quite the love affair with all things retro from sold-out concerts of 1970's and 80's bands, to beer labels from those two decades, to 70's and 80's-inspired clothing and shoes and even a resurgence in vinyl record sales. But the music from that area is undeniably safe in its importance and continued popularity. That is the magic of music. It can mentally transport me back to 1975 or 1969 or 1979 which are three years of specific importance to me. My children can seemingly feel the 1970's vibe through enjoying the songs I listen to. Bob Dylan is arguably a  guy some TV networks may actually consider putting captioning on the screen as his voice is different and his accent not of This Earth but his music needs no translation.     HappyinHeels

[Shyheels]

Hmmm. Maybe in America - I wouldn't know.  I may be wrong of course but your descriptions suggest to me your kids might be indulging Dad a bit and being kind enough to appreciate, vicariously, your enjoyment of music that takes you back to a particular place and time, but without really involving themselves with it. The few Millennials who would have heard of Dylan really wouldn't care about him one way or the other, anymore than they would care about Glenn Miller or Bing Crosby. Totally yesterday's news

I am the father of two Millennial (English) children, both of them into music, and neither of them had ever heard of Bob Dylan until I mentioned him in regards to the Nobel Prize. Neither, they said, had any of their friends ever heard of him. Nor were they particularly interested in hearing about him now. Having now listened to him, experimentally and out of curiosity because of the recent  news stories about the Nobel Prize, neither of them were the least bit impressed. It wasn't that they hated him or his music, they just weren't interested. He simply has no relevance to their world. None.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Shyheels