Last month, Bob Dylan left the Nobel Committee “Blowin’ in the Wind” for days before acknowledging its purportedly coveted prize. The consensus among music critics and fans alike was that he was just being his rogue self.
Leonard Cohen, the author of the famous “Hallelujah” song who died ten days ago, insinuated that the Nobel prize is beneath Dylan. He might have thought Dylan accepting it for writing from Swedes is rather like Mount Everest accepting a medal for height from weeds.
But I argued that Dylan was perfectly willing to sell his soul. Further, that he was only trying to haggle (in a passive-aggressive way) over the “logistics” of the Committee’s tender and his acceptance:
It would not surprise me if, like Sartre, Dylan is wondering if the Committee would consider giving him the cash without him acknowledging the award, let alone showing up to formally accept it.
(“The Nobel Prize: Dylan No More Worthy than Obama,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 24, 2016)
This is why I was not at all surprised yesterday when I read this:
[I]n a personal letter to the academy, Dylan told them ‘he wishes he could receive the prize personally, but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible’…
The Swedish Academy said it ‘respects Bob Dylan’s decision’ but stressed it is ‘unusual’ for a Nobel laureate not to come to Stockholm to accept the award in person.
Nonetheless, the academy noted: ‘The prize still belongs to … Bob Dylan.’
(London Guardian, November 16, 2016)
How’s that for having your cake and eating it too. But I cannot criticize Dylan for this encore diss. Not least because I’ve written too many commentaries decrying the arbitrary way the Nobel committee awards it prize. “Obama Awarded (Affirmative Action) Nobel Peace Prize,” October 10, 2009, highlights this.
On the other hand, given what little is now left of his artistic soul, I fear Hell will freeze over before Dylan is “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”
Related commentaries:
Dylan no more worthy…
Obama awarded…