Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature 2016. :D

[ranzino]

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_pri...016/press.html

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016
Bob Dylan

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan

"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".


Now this is a surprise, among all those book autors awarded in history ?

[Deletedaccount1]

I'm glad someone who isn't a writer won a literature award that Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Emile Zola and James Joyce were apparently not good to enough to win.

[Gangresnake]

Adonis deserved it more, but giving him a nobel would have been a "political statement" because of his previous position in the arab world

Dylan was just the choice of safety

[FuxieDK]

Litterature... Hmm..

[Chrysia]

I'm glad someone who isn't a writer won a literature award that Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Emile Zola and James Joyce were apparently not good to enough to win.

So songwriters aren't writers? Poets have won the literature award in the past.

Joyce died the year after the award was created, Tolstoy and Twain 9. The awards are never awarded posthumously. I don't know why Joyce was snubbed, but I seriously doubt it's because he "wasn't good enough."

[Deleted]

Good for him, and well deserved. I think he is one of the best song writers of the 20th century.

[Deleted]

At first i was gobsmacked but being a fan since a young age and seeing how poets have got the price before i think its justified. His lyrics are pretty amazing and made him an icon for generation upon generation of song writers.

My bet was on Murakami grabbing the price this year.

[Deletedaccount1]

So songwriters aren't writers? Poets have won the literature award in the past.

Songwriters are writers but music consists of so much more than lyrics alone. If you judge Dylan's qualification on his songwriting ability than Leonard Cohen deserved it a lot more. The reason he won was probably because the Nobel committee is made up mostly of baby boomers who are nostalgic for the time period where Dylan made a difference.

I don't doubt Dylan's influence and the quality of his work but in terms of literature, I don't see why he deserved it more than poets and authors who put more than just emotional depth into how they write.

[ranzino]

Nobel prize for skills in song writing is still new and it's fair guess not everybody will rejoyce at the 2016 choice.

[Chrysia]

Songwriters are writers but music consists of so much more than lyrics alone. If you judge Dylan's qualification on his songwriting ability than Leonard Cohen deserved it a lot more. The reason he won was probably because the Nobel committee is made up mostly of baby boomers who are nostalgic for the time period where Dylan made a difference.

I don't doubt Dylan's influence and the quality of his work but in terms of literature, I don't see why he deserved it more than poets and authors who put more than just emotional depth into how they write.

There are tons of deserving writers that don't ever get recognized by the Nobel committee. They only pick one, maybe two, a year and if you die before the committee gets around to you, well, tough shit.

I also don't see how you can judge whether poets put more or less emotional depth into their writing than Dylan. Dylan put tons of emotion into his writing.

[Noxx79]

Adonis deserved it more, but giving him a nobel would have been a "political statement" because of his previous position in the arab world

Dylan was just the choice of safety

Bad Joke Incoming:

The Times they are a Changin' when Bob Dylan is the choice of safety.

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So songwriters aren't writers? Poets have won the literature award in the past.

Joyce died the year after the award was created, Tolstoy and Twain 9. The awards are never awarded posthumously. I don't know why Joyce was snubbed, but I seriously doubt it's because he "wasn't good enough."

The Nobel committee is very secretive, so it's really not possible to know why people are or aren't. I was listening to a story on NPR about it, there were some interesting comments about what is discussed. If I remember correctly, there was a leak that Tolkien had just about won the award, but there was one guy who was convinced that his books weren't of lasting power or something like that.

[Deletedaccount1]

There are tons of deserving writers that don't ever get recognized by the Nobel committee. They only pick one, maybe two, a year and if you die before the committee gets around to you, well, tough shit.

I also don't see how you can judge whether poets put more or less emotional depth into their writing than Dylan. Dylan put tons of emotion into his writing.

I know Dylan puts emotion into his writing, that isn't what I'm arguing. There needs to be more to it than that. Skill and technique need to be addressed and I don't think Dylan has the writing talent to earn a literature award of this caliber.

You can disagree and I don't really care at the end of the day but I can't take a literature award seriously that snubs so many great writers in favor of some social or cultural impact criteria that I can't measure or assess.

[Independent voter]

Crimson flames tied through my ears,
Growin' high and mighty traps,
Pounced with fire on flaming roads,
Using ideas as my maps.
"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I,
Proud 'neath heated brow -
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I'm younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth -
"Rip down all hate," I screamed.
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow -
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow -
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I'm younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school.
"Equality": I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow -
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I'm younger than that now.

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach -
Fearing not I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach -
My existence led by confusion boats:
Mutiny from stern to bow -
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect.
Good and bad, I define these terms -
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow -
Ah, but I was so much older then;
I'm younger than that now.

[Chrysia]

I know Dylan puts emotion into his writing, that isn't what I'm arguing. There needs to be more to it than that. Skill and technique need to be addressed and I don't think Dylan has the writing talent to earn a literature award of this caliber.

You can disagree and I don't really care at the end of the day but I can't take a literature award seriously that snubs so many great writers in favor of some social or cultural impact criteria that I can't measure or assess.

Skill and Technique are still subjective measures to a degree. Sure, you can define them in such a way that excludes certain things, but what one individual views as skillful will likely vary greatly from what another person does.

[Deleted]

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_pri...016/press.html

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016
Bob Dylan

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan

"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".


Now this is a surprise, among all those book autors awarded in history ?

Garbage.
Pure and utter garbage.
Just as bad as Obama's peace prize.

[Chrysia]

Garbage.
Pure and utter garbage.
Just as bad as Obama's peace prize.

By what measure is this garbage?

Bob Dylan is a widely respected songwriter. Is there something about lyricists that should exclude them from an award frequently granted to poets?

[Flarelaine]

Garbage.
Pure and utter garbage.
Just as bad as Obama's peace prize.

Bob Dylan has decades' worth of work behind him. Obama won in his first year.

[Deleted]

By what measure is this garbage?

Because no poet (and he is no poet) has ever been given the price for what amounts to a handful of poems.

Bob Dylan is a widely respected songwriter. Is there something about lyricists that should exclude them from an award frequently granted to poets?

Yes.
he is lacking in quantity and quality.

[Deletedaccount1]

Yes.
he is lacking in quantity and quality.

This I have to disagree with. Dylan has released a lot, a lot of albums and songs. The fair share of them aren't very good imo. If you hear him live in the past 15 years he doesn't anywhere near as good as he used to.

[Deleted]

Bob Dylan has decades' worth of work behind him. Obama won in his first year.

He got it for 'healing' the US racial divide, by being elected.
The american people could have gotten it if they held a referendum stating 'racism is bad mkay'.

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This I have to disagree with. Dylan has released a lot, a lot of albums and songs. The fair share of them aren't very good imo. If you hear him live in the past 15 years he doesn't anywhere near as good as he used to.

His 'liveness' is a category error.
Indeed, This entire thing is a category error.