“The [Nobel] prize is for literature.[Bob] Dylan is a songwriter. Here is where the argument starts to get interesting, because here is where it is no longer a question of either cultural orthodoxy or personal taste.” LiteratureInterestingTasteArgumentPrizeBobSongwritersDylanOrthodoxyNobelNobel PrizePersonal Taste Author:David Bennun
“On another front of the category-error argument are the insufferable fogeys who think the [Nobel] award is an outrage upon literature itself. That the problem is not simply a mistake may have been made about definitions, but that awful vulgarians are encroaching upon their sacred places. [Bob] Dylan, to them, is the harbinger of the low-culture mob; the latest in an unending number of final straws, or the thin end of a wedge that never seems to get thicker.” ThinkingMayHas BeensMadeEndsProblemSeemsCultureLiteratureNumbersMistakeFrontsLowsArgumentSacredErrorsFinalsDefinitionsAwfulAwardsCategoriesBobDylanOutrageNobelStrawsUnendingWedgesInsufferableHarbingerSacred Places Author:David Bennun
“There's no reason - not yet, anyway - to believe [Bob] Dylan himself endorses such an attitude; or that he would think of himself as a more profound and worthy recipient than, for instance, any of the brilliant Motown or girl-group lyricists who are more likely to be awarded a Nobel prize for chemistry than for literature. Whether there is more truth and humanity in his best lyrics than in Abba's, or less, is unquantifiable, and it would be meretricious to attempt such a calculation in contesting an argument he has been dragged into.” ThinkingBelieveHas BeensReasonWould BeHumanityGirlLiteratureAttitudeGroupsArgumentProfoundWorthyBrilliantInstanceNo ReasonPrizeChemistryBobDylanCalculationsNobelNobel PrizeMotownAbbaLyricistsGirl Groups Author:David Bennun