Bob Dylan’s influence cuts across generations
The 2016 Nobel Prize for literature to American song-writer and singer Bob Dylan has cheered his fans across generations. His five-and-a-half decade-old career that enthused millions, truly deserves this honour. In many of his concerts in the past, he has been introduced as the “poet laureate of rock n’ roll”, and he lived up to this image. While awarding the prize to Dylan, the Nobel committee cited him admirably “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Dylan's ability to incorporate other texts and table them in his own fashion reflects a new tradition. This situates him in an oral tradition that was very much evident in the writings of ancient Greek poets. Dylan’s writings reminds one of the rich and resourceful texts of Greek legends like Homer and Sappho, whose writings were meant to be listened to. His songs remain as expansive and ambitious as they were five decades ago. He is the first American to win the literature prize since 1993, when Toni Morrison, a novelist, was honoured. Dylan has the distinction of becoming the first person to win a Grammy, the Oscar and the Nobel. Often in the past, the prize used to be given to unknown personalities who again slipped into anonymity after the euphoria died down. Also, it so happens that many of the laureates remain in their solitary path till the last moment of their life. But this time, the prize has been given to a person who is an iconic public figure and has a larger-than-life image across the globe. This makes him special.
Dylan’s works have also created controversies in the past. However, he accepted the fact that life and art were more about interpretation than mere citation of facts. He moved forward and took the world by surprise. He heralded hope in the midst of crisis.
His works spanned from high to low, from black to white, encompasses the entire English language tradition, particularly the American. Now, Dylan is on the move to make a career by doing exactly the opposite his peers do. Normally, they skillfully present their best numbers and tour the world to sustain the tempo of their classic albums. For Dylan, it is entirely a new journey. He either re-interprets his back catalogue or twists it beyond repair. Besides, his contemporaries make an album by representing their best-loved classical numbers. But he brings in songs to the stage in a way as if they were created much before his existence. This is where he strikes a difference. Giving an award to a true legend like Dylan can set a new trend. The choice for Nobel in literature must reflect new realities. Rising conflicts, protests and vulnerabilities demand new faces in the hall of Nobel fame, those that can generate hope around the world. Dylan sings in his own way, giving a dazzling effect to what he does. What he sang, 52 years ago, ‘I am a poet, I know it, hope I don't blow it', has come true today. Dylanologists across the world had been demanding even a special Nobel award for him just because ‘he is Bob Dylan'. But others, amid criticisms, have come to the agreement that he is a unique personality that stands apart. Without the Nobel Prize, Dylan was still a legend and would have been remembered for as long as mankind. The Nobel is another feather in his cap.