7
Impala owner’s manual. Perhaps then, we mean some-
thing else by literature, something about texts that com-
municate implicitly as well as explicitly, that find a way
to say things that might otherwise not be said, that have,
at their center, a conscience. The will of Alfred Nobel,
the Swedish philanthropist who set up the whole Nobel
enterprise, decrees that the literature prize go to some-
one who produced “the most outstanding work in an
idealistic direction.” The type of works considered,
the Nobel Foundation says, should be “not only belles
lettres but also other writings which, by virtue of their
form and style, possess literary value.”
Whether heard in song or read on the page, Dylan’s
lyrics clearly contain many of the distinguishing quali-
ties of great poems and novels. They’re hewn to engag-
ing narratives. They’re often allegorical and richly
emotional. They reveal themselves more fully over
sustained analysis (hence the college courses). Dylan’s
work is often political, of course, though rarely strident.
It’s hard to imagine any writer of English listening
attentively to Dylan’s lyrics without being affected by
the language, the structure, and the content. They are
words that stand the test of time.
The list of Nobel laureates is hardly definitive.(Tolstoy never won it. Pearl S. Buck did.) But many of
the giants are there. And the imprimatur of the prize
is on a scale of its own. In declining the award, Sartre
spoke of the impact that it would have had upon how
he was perceived. “If I sign myself Jean-Paul Sartre
it is not the same thing as if I sign myself Jean-Paul
Sartre, Nobel Prize winner.” He added, “The writer must
therefore refuse to let himself be transformed into an
institution, even if this occurs under the most honor-
able circumstances.” In the case of Dylan—who gained
his audience partly by pricking the establishment and
now, perhaps in spite of himself, has become a part of
it—Sartre’s is not an irrelevant concern.
The Nobel Prize, for all its momentous heft, will
never outweigh Dylan’s true accomplishment. His
powerful, beautiful, transformative and unforgettable
songs helped to spur righteousness through the heart of
the civil rights movement. Dylan’s words were sung by
marchers on the road from Selma to Montgomery. They
were sung as preamble to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. That remains Bob
Dylan’s noblest mark. The 2016 Nobel Prize was simply a
crowning honor in an extraordinary life.
—Kostya KennedyDYLAN IN BANGOR,
Maine, during the
early days of the
Rolling Thunder
Revue tour in 1975.KEN REGAN/CAMERA 5
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