The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 was awarded today to Bob Dylan
“for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.
We’re stunned and delighted and thrilled.
Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy – “He (Dylan’s) ‘s a great poet in the English-speaking tradition and he’s a wonderful sampler. A very original sampler. He embodies the tradition and for 54 years now he’s been at it, reinventing himself constantly, creating a new identity”
“..if you look far back you discover Homer and Sappho. They wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to, performed, often together with instruments and it’s the same way with Bob Dylan. We still read Homer and Sappho and we enjoy it. Same thing wih Bob Dylan – he can be read and should be read. And he is a great poet in the grand English tradition.”
Here is the announcement of the award in today’s New York Times (see also – here)
and here in the LA Times
here in the Washington Post
here on the BBC
here on NPR
here in The Guardian
here’s Reuters “”greatest living poet”)
here’s AP
Here’s Expecting Rain – the source for all Dylan information
Plenty more encomiums to follow.