Regarding Dylan and the Nobel. I'm for it. I'm pleased by it. The Nobel Lit prize is not something I've ever taken much notice of - I have no idea who won the last one for example. Some of the winners are writers who I like a lot while others are ones that do nothing for me - but that's the way it is. Same for Dylan. Apart from the silly controversy about giving it to a singer-songwriter there are many people who don't like Dylan and never have, so I can understand their objection, fair enough. The stuff that says it should have gone to better writers (whatever that means) can always be said, whoever wins, so again, fair enough, but beyond that I see no reason why the man should not deserve it. My own take on Dylan is endlessly complicated, as it would be for someone who was so important to me as a young listener and writer but who went on to do his own thing and and produce so much - some of it incredible and some of it bordering on the pretty bad. By 'his own thing' I mean that his developing engagement with the world, culturally and politically and philosophically, was far distant from my own, but I always respected that and understood it. So yes, I'm pleased. In some ways it seems to be a personal vindication, as though the prize was being awarded to all of us who were influenced by the man and at some point in his long career have loved his work, etc

On 14 Oct 2016, at 13:12, Sean Carey wrote:

The most ridiculous & an absurd choice Kent. A man whose quest for profit knows no bounds. A man who plays the poor boy in the delta but is rich beyond belief. A man who wrote Volume 1 of his autobiography with an eye on the Nobel Prize. A man whose only honest interview was in Folkway s magazine in the 1970s. A man whose political beliefs are totally unknown. A man who has carefully cultivated a persona & paid little attention to his adoring fans. A man who has done more touring than studio work. A man whose finest work ended with "Blood On The Tracks".

By no means the worst writer to win the prize but also another male winner of same & there are many worthy females who have done a lot better than "Tarantula". The first volume of his autobiography should have been titled " Mom Pop and Apple Pie" as it totally avoided reality. The Dylan biographers do not probe the man and to use Wilson's quip on Joyce's biographer "Cain by Abel".

Just my view but one grows weary of media humbug on Dylan now running for 50+ years.

sc

Turn that frown upside down

On Friday, 14 October 2016, Kent Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

So is Dylan the most inspired choice the Nobel committee has ever made, or the most ridiculous one?
(It has to be one of those.)