I am a huge Bob Dylan fan. Does he deserve it? I am not sure. Does he deserve it ahead of more established persons of Literature? I am not sure. Does he deserve it ahead of other great songwriters? Again, I am not sure. What I am sure of is that by giving Dylan the Nobel Prize for Literature, you have excluded some establised Literature writer the honour. Bob Dylan has already received so many accolades, including an Oscar in his main forum of music, do we need to praise him more in Literature? Also, by doing so we have unleached the genie from the bottle...when will we betow the Noble on other great songwriters such as Paul McCarney, John Lennon, Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Paul Simon, Joni MItchell, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, and Brian Wilson? Is it even fair to now have them compete with the more established Literature writers our time....who don't receive any accolades at all...or remain obscure? My position is that we already have a host of avenues to reward songwriters...but not so for the more established Literature writers...who will remain relatively unknown.
Bob Dylan...
I think it is great that song lyrics are being recognized as poetry. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, in the Writers and Poets of Chess.com group, I started a forum about the social implications of song lyrics.
It should've been Eazy-E or Ice Cube...
Naipaul’s reaction to Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka winning the Nobel in 1986 (according to Paul Theroux): “Has he written anything?” Then adding that the Nobel Committee was, as usual, “pissing on literature from a great height.”
100 years from now no one will be reading Dylans stuff. It is like the first nobel prize, that everyone believes should have gone to Tolstoy, but because of politics went to some guy nobody now remembers or reads; while Tolstoy is relevant as ever.
His lyrics does not measure up to the worst of either Heaney, Milosz or Yeats. This is just a trend in the current politics of trying to be inclusive. Everything gets labeled as literature. Next it will be Game of Thrones; then twitter and facebook, finally the world will end when chess.com forums wins the nobel prize, for its raw look at the multitude preoccupations and yearnings of a seething humanity, and for its vast buried stories of a people.
Great authors who didn’t win a Nobel Prize for unlikely reasons
Yeah, calling him Zimmy stopped my thread from getting noticed it seems. Hah.
@gromius and ab1217: I totally agree with you guys. Bob Dylan did not deserved the price unless the committee wanted to go more for Hollywood glamour. Dylan wrote so many songs. It's not surprising that some are good. This is mass production and of course there must be some good stuff in it. That's purely statistics... His music is very flat. C-F-C-a-C-F-G-G is blowing in the wind and terribly average. a-a-F-G (all along the wt) is as unimpressive. The structure is mostly verse refrain. Dylan's music was influential for sure but it is nothing to emphasise. It is random music. Perhaps a lot of people connect his music to good memories. I listened to Dylan at a beach in Turkey and it felt good. It felt relevant. Like the song "Death of Emmitt Till" (important topic to point at). Years later I looked at his music-sheets and was disappointed. Mostly irrelevant, not very impressive. Just Pop. I also read his biography and I read his lyrics. A lot of it was either written under some influence of drugs or they were written by other dudes or he copied old stuff. Some people suggest that the question to the answer: "42" is "How many roads must a man walk down?" And they are right. A pointless answer deserves a pointless question. Take care everyone. Chris.
@crazychessplayer: I thought the price goes only to people alive? Easy-E did did some great stuff for sure!
@Gromius: Thanks for the list. I didn't know about the 74 election. Sad moment... Chess.com forums getting the price however is already a classic for me. Great comments!
How Many Chords And How Complicated Are They is a universally accepted measure of good music.
Eric Satie's music often consists of one or two chords and it's not complicated...
Yeah, also Satie is random and unimpressive. How did you know?
The problem with awarding Dylan is that you've got giants in the field of literature who deserved it more.
Is the prize the grandest most meaningful thing or not?
It's a shame to toss away such a valuable thing.
It was a popular decision though, and no one ever went broke underestimating the mentality of the public.
It's probably a success for the committee.
Jean-Paul Sartre declined the 1964 prize for literature.
" I obviously renounce the 250,000 crowns because I do not wish to be institutionalised..." - Jean-Paul Sartre
Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, although he was nominated five times.
Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison turned down the Nobel Prize because they refused to share it.
Naipaul’s reaction to Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka winning the Nobel in 1986 (according to Paul Theroux): “Has he written anything?” Then adding that the Nobel Committee was, as usual, “pissing on literature from a great height.”
100 years from now no one will be reading Dylans stuff. It is like the first nobel prize, that everyone believes should have gone to Tolstoy, but because of politics went to some guy nobody now remembers or reads; while Tolstoy is relevant as ever.
His lyrics does not measure up to the worst of either Heaney, Milosz or Yeats. This is just a trend in the current politics of trying to be inclusive. Everything gets labeled as literature. Next it will be Game of Thrones; then twitter and facebook, finally the world will end when chess.com forums wins the nobel prize, for its raw look at the multitude preoccupations and yearnings of a seething humanity, and for its vast buried stories of a people.
Good post. Popularity and emotion don't make lyrics into literture
I expected more from authorties on literature - the criticism is pretty generic and lazy if you ask me.
I expected more from authorties on literature - the criticism is pretty generic and lazy if you ask me.
okay so let's hear your criticism
I disagree. Sharing an opinion is a good thing.
That's your opinion
You're right. but I shoot my mouth off too much. IMHO