Short Essay on Why Bob Dylan Deserves a Nobel Prize 2016 in Literature by Dwi Budidarma
Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an
American songwriter, singer, artist, and writer but better known as American Rock Star
since 1960s. If you do not recognize the name, you might notice him by his music such as Blowing in The Wind or Knock on Heaven’s Door which were quite
distinguished and still are until now.
This year, his name has been one of the hottest
topics for discussion by winning the Nobel Prize 2016 in Literature while he is
not even a novelist or a poet or any kind. But is he really not? For centuries
we have been told that literature is an epic works of art which is written and music
or song lyric has nothing to do with it but the time is passing by real quick
making something that used to be believed as the absolute truth might have
changed and this is exactly what is happening right now. 2016 is one of those
years that many unexpected things happened after all.
Previously, Bob Dylan ever won Pulitzer
Prize for Extraordinary Poetic Power Lyric in 2008 and Presidential Medal of
Freedom from President Obama in 2012 and now Nobel Prize in Literature for New
Poetic Expression Within Song Lyric in 2016.
Bob Dylan’s song lyric is different from
the other lyrics we probably have known because it is not only associated with
the rhyme or danceable beat and melody but also deeper than that. The lyrics
are broadly about so many things in life we can actually relate to, like
political matters or social phenomenon or philosophical matters, these lyric
are really deep until it eventually becoming not only song lyric but poetic
song lyric considering how and why such lyrics created in the first place. So
now if you are asking why and how is it even possible for Bob Dylan to be
awarded as Nobel Prize 2016 winner in Literature, well, this is not impossible
at all, and not really surprising. It is totally make sense and understandable.
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Bob Dylan winning Nobel Prize 2016 in Literature; Dylan's speech, which
was read by United States Ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji
Source :
Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to
the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests
in attendance tonight.
I'm
sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely
with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined
or seen coming. From an early age, I've been familiar with and reading and
absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction:
Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants
of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries
around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep
impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.
I
don't know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves,
but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the
world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It's probably buried so
deep that they don't even know it's there.
If
someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel
Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on
the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few years after, there
wasn't anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel
Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least.
I
was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more
than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William
Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as
a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn't have entered
his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read.
When he was writing Hamlet, I'm sure he was thinking about a lot of different
things: "Who're the right actors for these roles?" "How should
this be staged?" "Do I really want to set this in Denmark?" His
creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but
there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. "Is the
financing in place?" "Are there enough good seats for my
patrons?" "Where am I going to get a human skull?" I would bet
that the farthest thing from Shakespeare's mind was the question "Is this
literature?"
When
I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some
renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I
thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places
like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big, maybe I
could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio.
That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing your songs
on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get
to keep doing what you had set out to do.
Well,
I've been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I've made dozens of
records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it's my
songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to
have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different
cultures and I'm grateful for that.
But
there's one thing I must say. As a performer I've played for 50,000 people and
I've played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50
people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has
an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive
things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your
talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on
me.
But,
like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative
endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life's mundane matters. "Who are
the best musicians for these songs?" "Am I recording in the right
studio?" "Is this song in the right key?" Some things never
change, even in 400 years.
Not
once have I ever had the time to ask myself, "Are my songs
literature?"
So,
I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very
question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.
My
best wishes to you all,
Bob
Dylan
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