Nobody's written any books recently?
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
191–200 of 362 posts
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#192Listen to this excellent literary analysis of one of Bob Dylan's best songs: https://beta.prx.org/stories/19352
"Christopher Ricks, Professor of Humanities at Boston University explores the poetry in Bob Dylan's songs."
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#193Despite 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
They could. The psalms were originally set to music and are still quite popular works despite the music they were set to being long lost. But whether Dylan's lyrics really work on that level, well, that's a different question.
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#194Despite 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
Remember the Song of Songs in the Bible. Or the Nibelungenlied ("Lied" is German for song). Song and story are very much related, especially since back when the people couldn't read, singing stories was more popular than today.
The psalter is a much better example than the Song of Songs, IMO, given that there's no particular reason to think the latter was set to music.
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#195Totally 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…
I don't know. I like Dylan's music alright, but reading the lyrics posted here and imagining how they would sound on their own (If you've heard the songs, you tend to impose the music on them when you read them), I don't think they're particularly impressive. If you slipped, say, "The Ballad of a Thin Man" into a poetry anthology I don't believe many people coming across it blind would consider it one of the greats.
I don't know what the official criteria are but I'm going to think of the prize decision as recognizing his incredible songs as art in themselves rather than just the lyrics as "literature".
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't quite understand how this is failure. Chemistry, physics, physiology and medicine are sciences that have practitioners. Literature is an art that has practitioners. But peace is not a science nor an art. Nevertheless, Alfred Nobel saw fit to set up the peace prize. The rumor is that he did this because of hurt feelings after being accused of profiting from munitions manufacturing (he made his fortunes through…
You may be right that at the time there were no better subject matter experts. That doesn't make the Norwegian Parliament any good as subject matter experts in perpetuity, unfortunately, and I think the spotty history of the Peace Prize awards and the resulting disdain for it is evidence of that. Not least because the priorities of both the electorate and their elected representatives can change. So we certainly have…
The UN would be a rather horrible solution.
No, I trust the Norwegian parliament and its assigned panel a lot more. Nobel Peace Prize and its reputation is theirs. So far they've done a decent job, even if some of the appointments - like the premature selection of Obama - are disappointing.
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great song - for those wondering, it is The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol by Bob Dylan. I think the lyrics are more powerful in context of the rest of the song[0]. 0- https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tjwyq4ppzw6s7xatkamydg...
NPR(?) did an excellent analysis of the lyrics and rhymes in the song a while ago, but I can't find the episode.
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think hes talking mostly about the folk song tradition. If you look in both blues/folk there are a lot of songs that are very similar, with almost interchangeable lyrics by many different artists. The song Little Sadie is one example - its been known under a variety of names, with variations of lyrics. All the John Henry songs - they have been sung by blues and country players alike for almost a century.
> I think hes talking mostly about the folk song tradition. He says he's part of that tradition, and at length talks about how he benefited from it. Does he give back?
It's not a debate about giving music rights out.
If someone makes a song that sounds a lot like a Dylan song, it would be telling how he would react. He's taking about musical evolution, not free streaming.
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know. I like Dylan's music alright, but reading the lyrics posted here and imagining how they would sound on their own (If you've heard the songs, you tend to impose the music on them when you read them), I don't think they're particularly impressive. If you slipped, say, "The Ballad of a Thin Man" into a poetry anthology I don't believe many people coming across it blind would consider it one of the greats.
I don't know what the official criteria are but I'm going to think of the prize decision as recognizing his incredible songs as art in themselves rather than just the lyrics as "literature".
Maybe. I took the fact that this is a Nobel Prize in Literature and that the site states that they awarded it to him for "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition" as meaning this was about his lyrics.
Re: The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know. I like Dylan's music alright, but reading the lyrics posted here and imagining how they would sound on their own (If you've heard the songs, you tend to impose the music on them when you read them), I don't think they're particularly impressive. If you slipped, say, "The Ballad of a Thin Man" into a poetry anthology I don't believe many people coming across it blind would consider it one of the greats.
Is it right to consider the lyrics without the music? Isn't that a little like reading a literal translation of a poem in another language?
Works for the Tao Te Ching, and others. You lose something but not enough you can't see the genius if it's there.
For Dylan I'd actually prefer to consider his lyrics without the music since sometimes I can't really understand what he's singing. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLCewTcb-jc)