Bob Dylan - Nobel Prize for Literature

[MLF]

Out of a matter of interest, I looked at the list of previous "winners" of the prize and recognised very few of the names - perhaps I will start delving into their works, who knows.

Dylan is known world-wide. His work has spanned more than half a century and the meaning of his lyrics have been analysed throughout that time. When the music is taken away, and perhaps the chorus, what you are left with is a verbal painting of a situation, whether it be a protest against war (Masters of War), the treatment of people by society (The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll), a poem about a bank robbery (Lily,Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts) or one of love (Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands). And then of course there is Desolation Row (which reminded me somewhat of the Bowery in New York in the 70's). His work is timeless and is respected by todays generation as much as it was by kids in the 60's.

Leonard Cohen is indeed another person who puts meaningful poems to music but they are generally more sombre and somewhat more depressing although his live performances are very much more polished than Dylan's.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Catfish

However generally, the idea to influence people to do something positive is not a bad idea. Or to place them in the spotlight, as a symbol for others.

Then set up a foudnation. Have a public event like a donation ball. A TV event. Awards and Prizes however are by definition rewards for achieve,ents already successfully installed - not to be given for something you hopoe will be done in the future. For that, you would need incentives.

Has there ever been a movie that got an Oscar although the ovie was not shot? Any scientific work that was not accomplished but earned the scientist a reward?

Prizes are not to be given in advance. They come after the deed is done.

Also, Nobel founded his award with specific intentions and definitions for what these should be rewarded. And the Peace Nobel he did not found for all that stuff it gets used for now at all. I do not like this almost natural stealing of somebody'S idea just to propagate your own poltical desires and hopes for the future. Nobel cannot defend himself against this abuse. And thats why they abuse him.

Heck, i am really not the first one criticising the committee for what it has rightously done in recent years and decades. Nobel must rotate in his grave when seeing the list of Peace Nobel winners, and the massive abuse by the committee.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I'm actually surprised that someone hasn't complained, like they usually do over who gets the peace prize.

When it's stupid, we complain.

Originally Posted by Catfish

Because Dylan was and is 100-percent anti war, he demonstrated and still is against the Vietnam war, the US belligerent engagement in the middle East and against racism.
For right-wingers and "patriots" this is usually enough to throw with dirt.

Well, almost all artists and musicians are "anti-war", that's pretty easy to ignore when enjoying their works.

But it begs the question: who is really "pro-war"? That's getting off topic, but most people are against war.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

But it begs the question: who is really "pro-war"? That's getting off topic, but most people are against war.

Anyone when they're made to be.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Because Dylan was and is 100-percent anti war, he demonstrated and still is against the Vietnam war, the US belligerent engagement in the middle East and against racism.

Dylan was part of the 'protest singers' movement of the 60's as were many others. He didn't start it but somehow was the appointed leader. I don't think he cared for that title and distanced himself from that style of music. From Bringing It All Back Home on he leaned toward rock music and a somewhat different style of writing. Journalists were suggesting that he was a spokesman for his generation but Bob insisted he wasn't. He would write....

"Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters"

Originally Posted by fumo30

..But there's a woman named Joni Mitchell, who allegedly said that "Everything about Bob is a deception" .
Does she know something about Bob we don't?

As for that comment well I have found her to seem a little bitter in her old age. She has said bad things about others as well. As for Bob being a deception...yea that's what he usually goes for. He doesn't want anyone to know who he really is. He has been doing that along.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I'm certainly not going to complain but to be totally honest, I'm not really all that interested.

I seem to spend more and more of my time not being interested in the Nobel Prizes.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I'm complaining! I'm offended that some peacenik hippy writing all those anti-war lyrics should get the Peace Prize! It's an affront to all...










Wait, whut?

Allow me:

I'm complaining! I'm offended that some Hibbing, MINNESOTA peacenik hippy writing all those anti-war lyrics should get the Peace Prize! It's an affront to all...

EDIT following a lot of articles; pro and con;

Billy Collins, the former United States poet laureate, argued that Mr. Dylan deserved to be recognized not merely as a songwriter, but as a poet.
“Most song lyrics don’t really hold up without the music, and they aren’t supposed to,” Mr. Collins said in an interview. “Bob Dylan is in the 2 percent club of songwriters whose lyrics are interesting on the page even without the harmonica and the guitar and his very distinctive voice. I think he does qualify as poetry.”
In giving the literature prize to Mr. Dylan, the academy may also be recognizing that the gap has closed between high art and more commercial creative forms.
“It’s literature, but it’s music, it’s performance, it’s art, it’s also highly commercial,” said David Hajdu, a music critic for The Nation who has written extensively about Mr. Dylan and his contemporaries. “The old categories of high and low art, they’ve been collapsing for a long time, but this is it being made official.”

Bottom line; I don't much care for his stuff (more Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Neal Young) but I never doubted that he is extremely talented, daring, never disappointing, and persistently messaging in many genres...for half a century!! He is still a 'work in progress' which many will undoubtedly follow with more interest now that the recognition is pretty universal.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Anyone when they're made to be.

Goering knows best?

[HW3]

The Nobel Peace Prize 2016 was awarded to Juan Manuel Santos.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 was awarded to Bob Dylan.

Just thought I would clear that up.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Goering knows best?

Machiavelli, as another example.

Those Goering quotes, or Machiavelli's writings, are simple observations of the obvious. Empirically proven all too often in history. They do not speak compliments about humans, especially when humans show up in great groups and crowds - but they are true.

The mechanisms of power, and how to obtain it and keep it, maybe have not significantly changed since millenia. And why should they have? Why changing them when they so well helped the ambitions of those seeking power ?

IQ and size of a crowd, are reverse proportional.

[August]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Because Dylan was and is 100-percent anti war, he demonstrated and still is against the Vietnam war, the US belligerent engagement in the middle East and against racism.
For right-wingers and "patriots" this is usually enough to throw with dirt.

You Germans always claim you know what's "usual" about other countries.

[_dgn_]

Literature Nobel Prize for the singer Bob Dylan ?

Completely ridiculous !!!

Next year, it will be surely decreed with another US "celebrity" like Homer Simpson ...

It's really a crazy world !

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by August

You Germans always claim you know what's "usual" about other countries.

My response was dircetly tailored for the usual US behaviour, and not other countries.
Jane Fonda anyone?