“[I have] my own view about [Bob] Dylan's Nobel prize. Which is, I'm firmly in the Nay camp. I do think the award is a category error, but that's not why. Not in itself. What bothers me is the perceived status of the categories. If pop lyricists were routinely considered for the prize as are authors and poets, I'd still think it mistaken, but I wouldn't much care. But I am quite certain that Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, for example, both at the very least Dylan's equals as writers, have never been in the running and never will be.” IfsThinkingStillsCareRunningCertainMy OwnViewsExamplePoetErrorsPopsBotherPrizeWhy NotAwardsCategoriesCampsBobMistakenDylanNobelNobel PrizeLyricists 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
“The point is not that [Bob] Dylan doesn't need a Nobel to attest to how good he is (although he doesn't.) It's that pop music, pop music of any kind, doesn't need the Nobel committee to damn it with the faint praise of such an award to its sole chosen representative.” NeedsKindPraisePopsChosenDamnAwardsBobSoleRepresentativesCommitteesDylanNobelPop Music Author:David Bennun
“Look, dear! How adorable. When pop music tries its very hardest, it can be almost as good as Sven Hassel.” TryingLooksDearPopsHardestPop MusicAdorable 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
