Althouse: "The Swedish Academy says it has given up trying to reach Bob Dylan, days after it awarded him the Nobel prize in literature."

October 18, 2016

"The Swedish Academy says it has given up trying to reach Bob Dylan, days after it awarded him the Nobel prize in literature."

"So far the American troubadour has responded with silence since he won the prize on Thursday."

45 comments:

Coconuss Network said...: Maybe deep down he's really shy. Maybe just totally stunned.; 10/18/16, 11:56 AM
David Begley said...: Dylan is traveling. On his way to Meadehouse for a little celebration.; 10/18/16, 11:58 AM
Sydney said...: I'm not a big fan of his music, but I do love his persona.; 10/18/16, 11:58 AM
David said...: Well played, Bob.; 10/18/16, 12:00 PM
MadisonMan said...: I appreciate his stance on this.

Humility is a lost art.; 10/18/16, 12:03 PM
PB said...: Dylan never asks "How high?" when someone else orders him to jump.; 10/18/16, 12:05 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I appreciate his stance on this. Humility is a lost art."

How can you tell it's humility? Maybe he thinks he's bigger than they are and they're trying to catch a ride on his train?; 10/18/16, 12:16 PM
MadisonMan said...: Althouse, that sounds more like Bono.

I've never gotten the feeling/notion that Dylan thinks he's bigger than his britches. Maybe I'm just projecting my midwestern humility onto him.; 10/18/16, 12:25 PM
Rumpletweezer said...: Does is say "Must be present to win" somewhere on the medal?; 10/18/16, 12:30 PM
Patrick said...: Skeptical of the enterprise.; 10/18/16, 12:35 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Heh. I automatically like him more.; 10/18/16, 12:38 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The thought might be, "If they hand out literature prizes like they hand out peace prizes, I'm not interested."

Remember when they gave Arafat the peace prize? Arafat!; 10/18/16, 12:41 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Bob left a cryptic note that left them scrambling to try to translate into their native Norwegian:

You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel, how does it feel?; 10/18/16, 12:56 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I seem to recall that Bob Dylan, back in the Vietnam protest days, was rather disgruntled at becoming an icon for that movement and their co-opting of many of his songs to represent the anti-war movement.

Recalling---- that he was annoyed at being put into a box and having his poetry and his songs misrepresented by others. He didn't set out to write "protest" songs but they became the core of that movement

"n mid-1964, he explained to critic Nat Hentoff: "Me, I don't want to write for people anymore - you know, be a spokesman. From now on, I want to write from inside me ...I'm not part of no movement... I just can't make it with any organisation..."

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-politics-of-bob-dylan/

Perhaps he just wants to avoid this again?; 10/18/16, 1:10 PM
jimbino said...: Dylan no doubt fears that what happened to Obama after being awarded the Peace Prize just might happen to him after being awarded the Literature Prize.; 10/18/16, 1:22 PM
Original Mike said...: "Does is say "Must be present to win" somewhere on the medal?"

Yeah, they should mail it to him.

"Your move, Bob."; 10/18/16, 1:25 PM
Lydia said...: Or maybe the guy's just a jerk.

Has anyone heard from his one-time love Joan Baez about the award? Dylan was not a good guy at all about her way back when -- she was a big star when they met and launched his career by inviting him to share her stage and tour with her. Couple of years later, he wouldn't even allow her on stage with him.; 10/18/16, 1:56 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Maybe he just felt uncomfortable with that style.

I Gave my Love a Cherry; 10/18/16, 2:06 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: The Swedish Academy says it has given up trying to reach Bob Dylan...

The phone's tapped anyway.; 10/18/16, 2:14 PM
buwaya said...: Good for him.
Stiff them.
They've displayed rotten taste way too often.; 10/18/16, 2:18 PM
Sydney said...: Maybe it's a Minnesota thing.. Whatever.; 10/18/16, 2:24 PM
Sara D said...: Why be rude,if he doesn't want the prize, decline, it's been done before. Boris Pasternak, the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature, "Accepted at first,but later caused by the authorities of his country (Soviet Union) to decline the Prize".; 10/18/16, 2:27 PM
wildswan said...: I will not join any club that would have me as a member.; 10/18/16, 2:52 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ""The Swedish Academy says it has given up trying to reach Bob Dylan, days after it awarded him the Nobel prize in literature.""

Maybe they did reach him, but his voice sounds so much like line noise they couldn't tell.; 10/18/16, 2:57 PM
MadisonMan said...: Maybe he's off somewhere reading all the past winners to weave all their material into his acceptance song?; 10/18/16, 3:33 PM
lemondog said...: Dylan no doubt fears that what happened to Obama after being awarded the Peace Prize just might happen to him after being awarded the Literature Prize.

Whether or not you like his work, Dylan has been awarded for that body of work, Obama awarded for .........?; 10/18/16, 3:52 PM
lemondog said...: Bupkus; 10/18/16, 3:53 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Odd: "We have stopped trying -- we said everything we needed to his manager and friend, he knows about us being eager having confirmation from him, but we haven't heard anything back," Odd Zschiedrich, the administrative director of the Swedish Academy, told CNN on Tuesday.

One guess is that he didn't like the citation "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." There's the past tense of "having created". There's the redundancy of "created" and "new." There's the self- conscience choice of "poetic" when they have shown more respect to his genre by saying "lyrical." There's the pretension and faint praise of "poetic expressions." There's the jingoistic phrasing "great American song tradition."

Also, Bob Dylan has a full schedule of tour dates through November 23 and a Nobel laureate is expected to give a lecture in the week prior to the award ceremony on December 10.; 10/18/16, 4:01 PM
Temujin said...: He's hanging out with Paul Simon- the REAL songwriter of his generation.; 10/18/16, 4:09 PM
dustbunny said...: I can't get links to post here from my iPad. It's worth checking out a YouTube of Bob being given the 2000 Polar Music Prize by King Gustav of Sweden. He looks embarrassed as the Princess reads a citation of praise and then he and Issac Stern (!) are both handed huge,unwieldy flower arrangements which they have to hold as the crowd goes wild with applause. Stern looks delighted but Dylan looks so uncomfortable. I think he dreads these things perhaps because he is genuinely modest but also, he does not like not being in control of the proceedings when on a stage.; 10/18/16, 4:47 PM
William said...: George Bernard Shaw turned down the award. It wasn't an act of humility........I don't think there's any modest way to turn down a Nobel. It just makes you look like one of those actors who tries to upstage the Oscars.; 10/18/16, 4:59 PM
Tim said...: He's not hard to find. He's on tour right now.; 10/18/16, 5:00 PM
lemondog said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/18/16, 5:06 PM
lemondog said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/18/16, 5:07 PM
Craig said...: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjOvKz0reXPAhVhhlQKHWkRDKsQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F1964%2F12%2F17%2Fsartre-on-the-nobel-prize%2F&usg=AFQjCNEnF95K74gwc0jKAWgW7HsnydtY6g&sig2=qTxZMF00zQC20gy9TDZrTA; 10/18/16, 5:11 PM
Jaq said...: This author has been removed by the comment.; 10/18/16, 5:17 PM
mockturtle said...: It's not really surprising because he knows better than anyone else how undeserving he is of the Prize.; 10/18/16, 5:43 PM
Craig said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d8o8vNTNao&list=RD4d8o8vNTNao; 10/18/16, 6:01 PM
rehajm said...: Is Soy Bomb available to accept on his behalf?; 10/18/16, 7:57 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Well heck fire. The Nobel Prize isn't worth all that much any more. Oh sure the money attached to the prize may be okay, but the "prestige"? When Obama can get the Peace Prize for simply being elected and "not Bush", you have to think that a sentient being can recognize that the shine is off the medal.; 10/18/16, 8:48 PM
dustbunny said...: The Peace Prize is awarded by an entirely different group in Norway. This is the Swedish Academy.; 10/18/16, 9:06 PM
Joe Shmo said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/18/16, 9:27 PM
Big Mike said...: Frickin' quitters.; 10/18/16, 9:51 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I am puzzled that people don't think he is deserving of the prize. Writers have won in the prize in the past for bodies of work that were largely poetry- Yeats and Heaney come immediately to my mind, and I am sure there have been others.

There can be no denying that Dylan is a poet, can there? Is it the quality of his poems one is objecting to? I have always thought Nobel should have founded a prize for music, but he didn't, and Dylan is fully qualified as a candidate for the one in Literature.; 10/19/16, 12:42 AM
jg said...: he's not a great writer. but you have to respect his move here, if it is one.; 10/20/16, 12:48 PM