Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize

The literature world had a shocking week. Bob Dylan’s place, as one of the world’s greatest singers, was elevated further on Thursday when he was named the surprise winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. He was given the award “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. This choice of the academy was controversial or ridiculous to many but it doesn’t mean it hasn’t got any support. Author Salman Rushdie told the Guardian he was delighted with Dylan’s win and said his lyrics had been “an inspiration to me all my life ever since I first heard a Dylan album at school”. Author Joyce Carol Oates said there should be no question about Dylan’s work being considered literature, praising the academy’s “inspired and original choice”. “His haunting music and lyrics have always seemed literary,” she said. Mr. Dylan, whose original name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, was born on May 24th, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. He got his first regular guitar at the age of 14 and performed in rock’n’roll bands in high school. He adopted the name Dylan, after the poet Dylan Thomas, and began to perform folk music. He moved to New York in 1961 and began performing in the clubs and cafes of Greenwich Village. His first album, Bob Dylan, was released in 1962, and he followed it up with a host of albums now regarded as masterpieces, including Blonde on Blonde in 1966, and Blood on the Tracks in 1975. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures in contemporary popular culture, though his music has always proved divisive. Speaking last year, Dylan said, “Critics have given me a hard time since day one.” Let’s see if The Nobel Prize will be able to stop them.