The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan • Hacker News Board

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#111

Post by drzaiusapelord » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:16 PM UTC

xamuel wrote: post #8

Fantastic! Anyone know if it's the first Literature Nobel given to a pure singer-songwriter? Here are three Dylan songs with big literary value: * "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts": an amazing example of musical story-telling * "The Ballad of a Thin Man": Some of the most post-modern lyrics ever put to music... * "Like a Rolling Stone": One of the most influential songs of all time

>"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts": an amazing example of musical story-telling

This song and 'Tangled Up In Blue' and 'Hurricane' are practically novellas in song form. I think the 'long form storyteller' Dylan is often the least acknowledged, but probably my favorite Dylan song format.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#112

Post by TheCoelacanth » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:17 PM UTC

dagw wrote: post #35

543y4eryy4 wrote: post #24

It boggles my mind how people still are paying attention to the nobel's price. Other examples of useless shit they done: * giving Obama the peace price after he failed to shut down Guantanamo * giving president of Colombia the peace price after he failed to make peace with FARC.

The Nobel peace prize has little to do with the 'real' Nobel prizes or Nobel committee. It's administered by an entirely different organization, in a different country and with different rules and criteria.

All of the Nobel prizes are awarded by entirely different organizations except for Physics and Chemistry. The Nobel peace prize was established by Nobel's will exactly like the other Nobel prizes. It has just as much claim to being a real Nobel prize as any of the other Nobel prizes.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#113

Post by elcapitan » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:19 PM UTC

xamuel wrote: post #8

Fantastic! Anyone know if it's the first Literature Nobel given to a pure singer-songwriter? Here are three Dylan songs with big literary value: * "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts": an amazing example of musical story-telling * "The Ballad of a Thin Man": Some of the most post-modern lyrics ever put to music... * "Like a Rolling Stone": One of the most influential songs of all time

Winston Churchill also won the Literature Nobel Prize (for his book on the second world war). Writing history is probably even better than songwriting as an alternative to fiction.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#114

Post by Overtonwindow » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:20 PM UTC

ArkyBeagle wrote: post #29

Overtonwindow wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bless that man. It saddens me that when I finally saw him in concert his voice had long since gone.

Which voice? He's used several. His voice really changed a lot after the motorcycle wreck that about killed him.

OH wow I didn't know that. This was in ... 2010. His voice had the sound of a death rattle, absolutely unrecognizable.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#115

Post by busyant » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:21 PM UTC

Has Dylan himself commented on the award?

He's unpredictable (and irascible) enough to make me want to hear what he thinks about all of this.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#116

Post by callumlocke » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:22 PM UTC

circlefavshape wrote: post #21

Despite being a massive admirer of Dylan's work, I'm not sure that I'm good with this > for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition There's no doubt he did this, but ... do songs count as literature? I'm not really sure they do, and much as I love the songs, the lyrics by themselves don't have anything like the impact (on me at least) of top-notch poetry

literature (n) — written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.

...don't see why lyrics shouldn't count. Radio plays, films etc. also count.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#117

Post by mcphilip » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:22 PM UTC

fitzwatermellow wrote: post #82

Totally 100% well deserved. Just imagine the 13 year old out there discovering "Masters of War" or "Idiot Wind" for the first time today. Their entire point of view is about to change. Mind upon to hitherto unknowable vistas. Ergo, the absolute benchmark of what Great Literature strives to embody. Also worth checking out is Dylan's controversial speech upon receiving the the MusiCares Person of the Year 2015 award. I…

That MusiCares speech is a great read if you have 30 minutes to spare. A few favorite bits:

On Dylan's immersion in classic folk:

>If you sang "John Henry" as many times as me – "John Henry was a steel-driving man / Died with a hammer in his hand / John Henry said a man ain't nothin' but a man / Before I let that steam drill drive me down / I'll die with that hammer in my hand." If you had sung that song as many times as I did, you'd have written "How many roads must a man walk down?" too.

On what's often missing from rock & roll:

>The other half of rock & roll has got to be hillbilly. And that's a derogatory term, but it ought not to be. That's a term that includes the Delmore Bros., Stanley Bros., Roscoe Holcomb, Git Tanner and the Skillet Lickers... groups like that. Moonshine gone berserk. Fast cars on dirt roads. That's the kind of combination that makes up rock & roll, and it can't be cooked up in a science laboratory or a studio.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#118

Post by employee8000 » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:23 PM UTC

Angostura wrote: post #69

ekianjo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rebel became part of the institution in the end. Somewhat sad if you ask me.

Only sad if you believe that he didn't effect change in teh institution.

Based on current American society and especially the election, I would say he effected no change unfortunately.

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#119

Post by Veen » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:25 PM UTC

georgespencer wrote: post #73

kriro wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious. Should screenplays also be eligible for the nobel in literature?

And should novels be eligible for songwriting awards?

Most early poetry was sung, and we're fine with calling that literature. Calling Dylan's work poetry does step over some normative lines, but they're fairly arbitrary lines.

I know you were being sarcastic, but your comparison isn't really apt. Novels are not a lyric medium: they're prose. Song lyrics are lyrics set to music. Some poetry is "lyrics" without the music (although lyric poetry is not quite the same thing).

Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan

#120

Post by irremediable » Thu, Oct 13, 2016, 2:29 PM UTC

ptaipale wrote: post #72

stinkytaco wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They put coffee in their coffee in Brazil. It suppose it goes without saying, but that meme is some selective criticism.

Of course. Current youth generation's pop songs are always bad (mostly). "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. " - Socrates, circa 470 BC

I believe this quote is apocryphal. AFAIK it's actually quoting a play by Aristophanes that poked fun at Socrates -- a play that put these words in his mouth.