“The Yeas are relatively uniform. They view [Bob] Dylan as one of the greatest artists of his or any era, who deserves to be taken as seriously as any litterateur. Where they vary is in some cases not even accepting the distinction: Dylan in their eyes is a literary titan, and the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature is simply official affirmation of what they already knew.” EyeArtistLiteratureViewsAcceptingCasesTakenDeserveErasOfficialsDistinctionPrizeAwardsBobUniformsAffirmationDylanVaryNobelNobel PrizeTitans Author:David Bennun
“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
“The question now becomes about defining your terms. What is literature? Unless we allow it to encompass the oral tradition from which it grew, which means taking it back to Homer and beyond, it demands the written word - poetry and prose. [Bob] Dylan is no slouch at the written word, both in its own right, and transcribed from his lyrics, which have often been acclaimed as poetry and may well stand up as such. But that is not his métier.” WellsMayMeanLiteratureTermWrittenGrewDemandTraditionProseBobDefiningDylanWritten WordOral Tradition Author:David Bennun
“[Bob Dylan] is principally a recording artist, and if he weren't, it is unthinkable he would have had such an impact. He is to be heard first and read second. Well, what about plays, you could reasonably ask. Is [William] Shakespeare not great literature? Yes, obviously: but his work is great literature even to those who have never known it performed. The same is evidently not true of Dylan.” IfsFirstsWellsPlayArtistAsksLiteratureKnownHeardImpactBobDylanUnthinkableGreat Literature 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
“The [Nobel] award [of Bob Dylan] is no affront to literature; it is an insult to pop music. It is a condescending ruffle of pop's hair while handing it a lollipop. An act of beaming condescension whose transparent message is: "This one guy, and just this one guy, he's so good, he transcends his trivial idiom and elevates himself into our significant one."” GuyLiteratureHairMessagesPopsSignificantInsultAwardsBobDylanTransparentNobelPop MusicIdiomCondescendingCondescensionAffrontRufflesLollipop 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
“The same is true of ranking him thus against any work of literature. [Bob Dylan] has been made, through no fault of his own, the object of odious tokenism.” Has BeensMadeLiteratureObjectsFaultsBobDylanRankingTokenism Author:David Bennun
“Pop music, across its countless iterations, is a vast, amazing, thrilling art form. All life is in it. It stands for itself. The same is true of literature, but nobody feels compelled to toss Philip Roth a grammy just to prove it.” FeelsArtFormLife IsLiteratureProvePopsCompelledThrillingPop MusicProve ItTossPhilipGrammy Author:David Bennun
