“Plenty more of the Nays sound perfectly sincere, though. They may genuinely dislike [Bob] Dylan; they may even enjoy or admire him, but just don't think he's all that. Fair enough. The reaction of such folk seems to be chiefly amazement tinged with befuddlement: they've given him what? You're kidding me.” ThinkingMayEnoughSeemsGivenEnjoySoundFairsFolksReactionsAdmirePlentySincereDislikeBobDylanAmazement 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
“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
“[Bob] Dylan may, for whatever reasons of his own, do nothing of the sort with the Nobel committee. Up there on Parnassus, that is his unquestionable prerogative. But here on my anthill, it's mine to say: oh, do piss off, you ineffable snobs.” MayReasonMinesBobCommitteesDylanNobelSnobPrerogativeIneffable Author:David Bennun
