If, right before the announcement, someone had said, “An American poet has won the Nobel Prize; guess who it is,” who would you have guessed? I would have guessed John Ashbery. He must be kind of bummed today.
(My choice for an American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature would definitely have been Philip Roth, so I’m a little disappointed, since this pretty much rules him out for good).
A side note… Loved this tweet “Nobel Prize for Chemistry goes to Keith Richards” LOL, he is indeed one well preserved specimen.
Congrats to Bob Dylan.
@katliamom , but recall that the French love Jerry Lewis. B-)
But seriously, I’ve been hearing the Bob Dylan as poet thing since the 60s.
@musicprnt, I agree with what you say in #17.
I just looked back over the list of Nobel literature winners, and it’s definitely a mixed bag. There are towering figures and then there are others. John Galsworthy? Now, I enjoyed reading Galsworthy–and I’ve read more of his books that just the Forsyte Saga–but it’s hard to figure he makes the cut as among the top few novelists writing in English in the first half of the 20th century. Oh well, it’s a good thing when any writer gets recognition.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I will assume that everyone on this thread has heard me say repeatedly that College Confidential is not a debate society. You will not change anybody’s mind here, so please don’t try.
All of my anthologies of poetry start with ballads that were originally sung even if the tunes have not come down to us. Greek lyric poetry was accompanied by the lyre.
Is Dylan the world’s greatest poet? Probably not, but he’s a good one, and an influential one.
We studied him in high school along with Wallace Stevens.
In honor of poetry that is way better than this:
Though the Nobel prize went to Dylan
If you discuss it you are a villain
For there is no debatin’
Or you’ll be akin to satan
Unless the mods are now chillin’
Congrats, Bob! To me he is the Greatest American Alive! Who else…Oprah? Billy Graham? Bill Gates? Spielberg?..?..?
this is laughable
Not sure who the admonition was supposed to apply to, but I wasn’t trying to change anyone’s mind with my comment about Ashbery and Roth. I’m a huge Dylan fan and I’m thrilled he won!
Personally, I’m good with Dylan winning the prize but I do find the exchange here informative and insightful. I’ve learned a lot with these 2 pages of discussion.
All discourse shouldn’t be viewed as debate looking to change another’s mind.
Totally agree! I enjoyed the back-and-forth on poetry between Consolation and musicprnt. Very informative.
ETA: and what’s more fun than deciding who is or is not worthy of some award throughout history? Would be kind of boring if we were all limited to saying that yes, Toni Morrison was a good choice.
Dylan has long been described as the best living poet in the U.S., and poetry is definitely literature. I think it’s an interesting choice. One article I read indicated that the prize for literature requires work which has a sense of idealism that promotes and champions human rights.
And I heard Keith Richards and Ozzy Osbourne shared the 2016 Chemistry Nobel… 
There was an entire thread about Dylan’s win a few days ago.
Sorry. I did look back a few pages on past entries and threads before posting and did not see a thread about this. I did not see anything for a day or two.
Unfortunately I do not visit CC every day and often miss things.
His autobiography is supposed to be pretty darn good too. (I haven’t read it.)
To dance beneath a diamond sky with one hand wavin’ free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sand, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.
Dylan is obviously so much more than a song writer. Poetry set to music…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder comes to mind.
Gee, when it comes to try and changing minds, I do that all the time on CC. As in, consider LACs instead of directionals, or add
some safeties to those ‘must-have’ Ivies with your 3.7 and 1320 SAT.
But I love the references to Cormac McCarthy! (The best living American writer). And Philip Roth as well. Who is our greatest living poet? Robert Pinsky? Billy Collins?
As someone above pointed out, the Nobel Prize for Lit often goes to writers few have heard of. Like any prize (Booker, Pultizer) it’s selected by just a few and should have no importance at all. Except that the Nobel pays better. But who cares? Still, I’d be okay of Leonard Cohen had won instead of BD.
@frazzled1, I love Margaret Atwood, too. I happened to see a YouTube video in which she commented on this. She suggested that the choice was political. This makes sense to me. It’s depressing how relevant BD’s lyrics are today.
Margaret Atwood - Some of her writing is interesting, but Oryx and Crake, which two of my sons were forced to read for a class, is nothing short of disgusting, poorly written, cretinous pornography in my opinion. I read it and contacted the teacher and the school board with my thoughts about it. If I was ever going to burn a book, it would be this one. I wouldn’t award her a prize for anything. Please note that I am not trying to incite a debate, just express my opinion.
As for Bob Dylan, I enjoy some of his music, primarily the older works. I saw him in concert when he was in his evangelical phase and was not impressed.