Nobel Prize in Literature Goes to Bob Dylan
For the first time since 1993, when Toni Morrison won, the Nobel Prize in Literature goes to an American, Bob Dylan, for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
For years, Dylan has been on bettors’ lists, so often that has become a bit of a joke. Some people made out well betting on that joke this year. At one point, his odds were 50/1 and a headline in the New Republic a few days ago read, “Who Will Win the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature? Not Bob Dylan, that’s for sure.” As the story points out, the winner is notoriously difficult to predict.
Several books about Dylan’s songs are available in print, including one that was published last year:
Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track
Philippe Margotin, Jean-Michel Guerdon (Black Dog & Leventhal)
Dylan expert Clinton Heylin published analyses of all of Dylan’s songs through 2008 in two volumes:
Revolution In The Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan: Vol. 1: 1957-73 (Chicago Review Press, 2009)
Still On The Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan: Vol. 2: 1974-2008 (Chicago Review Press, 2010; released in trade paperback in September)
Coming next month is a compilation of his lyrics:
The Lyrics: 1961-2012 by Bob Dylan, (S&S) — cover, above