Bob Dylan still has not mentioned Nobel Prize

Oct 21, 2016, 00:33

Five days after Bob Dylan was named the victor of the Nobel Prize in literature, no one knows how he feels about the prestigious award - not even the Nobel judges. Various literary figures protested a musician being awarded the prize, with Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh taking the award for most vociferous response: "This is an ill-conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies".

To put it bluntly, the hard but necessary task of distinguishing "good" art from "bad" art has been lost amid the struggle over what gets to ranked as "best".

Dylan and his band played a concert in Las Vegas hours after the announcement was made about the Nobel Prize, and did not mention the honor.

Others have said that because Dylan's writing was created with the attention of being performed with a piece of music, accompanied by instrumentation and live oral expression, it does not qualify as poetry. On the website, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, is quoted as saying, "He can be read, and should be read, and is a great poet in the English tradition".

Some keen-eyed individuals spotted the award listed on Dylan's website, on a page promoting his book of lyrics, aptly titledThe Lyrics: 1961-2012.

Dylan's silence about the Nobel Prize puts a question mark on his appearance at the award ceremony in Sweden scheduled in December.

"I have a feeling that he will get in touch", she said.

"For now, that is certainly enough", Danius said, adding: "I am not at all anxious". Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature on October 13.

Only two people have declined a Nobel Prize in literature.