Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan Is A Literary 'Alchemist'

October 13, 2016 5:04 PM ET

NPR NEWS

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The Nobel Committee announced a bit of a head scratcher[1] this morning.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan for having created new, poetic expressions within the Great American Song tradition.(在伟大的美国歌曲传统中开创了新的诗性表达)

(APPLAUSE)

CORNISH: Dylan's written more than 900 pages of lyrics, but the Nobel Prize is primarily awarded to essayists[散文家], novelists[小说家] and playwrights[剧作家;编剧]. Sean Wilentz says that Dylan fits right in with[恰好与…相吻合] that crowd. He's the author of the book "Bob Dylan In America."

Welcome to the program.

SEAN WILENTZ: Great to be here.

CORNISH: As a longtime scholar of Dylan, what's your reaction to today?

WILENTZ: Oh, I'm delighted. I mean, I woke up - it's funny. The first thing I thought about was a film clip from the mid-1980s in a perfectly terrible film that he was in called "Hearts Of Fire." And there's one little clip where he says, I never thought I was going to be one of those rock 'n' roll[摇滚乐] stars to win a Nobel Prize.

(Laughter) He was saying this in 1985 in a kind of dismissive[轻视的;不屑一顾;不屑的] way. I mean, Dylan's relationship to prizes, to authority in general is, shall we say, cagey. He is a great anti-authoritarian[反独裁/反权威] in many ways. Yet, he perfectly appreciates the laurels[2] that have headed his way. I'm sure he's appreciating this today. I certainly appreciate it, and I was thrilled.

CORNISH: If we're talking about Bob Dylan as a writer and lyricist, how should we think about his style in the context of literature, the way that this prize sort of does?

WILENTZ: Well, I mean, Bob Dylan, like many - if not most - literary greats[文坛泰斗], is an alchemist[炼金术士]. He manages to take materials from here and there and to turn them into something different - to make them larger, to make them his own.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED")

BOB DYLAN: (Singing) Oh, God said to Abraham, kill me a son. Abe said, man, you must be putting me on.

CORNISH: This song, "Highway 61 Revisited," the title track[专辑同名主打歌] from that album that was released in August of 1965.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED")

DYLAN: (Singing) Next time you see me coming, you better run.

CORNISH: What do we know from this period in terms of his style?

WILENTZ: Well it's the Book of Genesis[3], right? It's the story of Abraham and Isaac[亚伯拉罕和以撒], and he's turning it into something that's very, very new.

WILENTZ: He's talking about Highway 61. Highway 61 is a highway that runs right through the middle of America. It's - you know, runs all the way from Minnesota[明尼苏达州] down to the Deep South[美国南部诸州(尤指佐治亚、亚拉巴马、密西西比、路易斯安那和南卡罗来纳州)].

So starting with the Bible[圣经], you know, this terrifying story of Abraham - who happens to be his father's name, too. So when he's talking about God said to Abraham, kill me a son - yikes, he gets a little personal maybe, too. But he is telling a whole song about what's going on in America in his time through the idiom of the Bible, rock 'n' roll, folk - it's all there.

CORNISH: Without the music, how do you sort of hear these lyrics, or describe them? Is it something that you say is sparse or descriptive? What are kind of the words you use to describe his work when people can't hear it?

WILENTZ: Well, I mean, a lot of different ways. First of all, I don't think you should read the lyrics without the song - without the music. They go together. That said, his lyrical style - it varies tremendously. He can be cutting[刻薄的;尖刻的;伤人感情的]. He can be whimsical[4]. He can be tragic, really in the space of a single stanza[(诗的)节,段] sometimes. So he has all of the moods and all of the techniques of any great literary artist, and they're all there on the page.

CORNISH: You said that you don't believe it should be divorced from the music, but there is - I was thinking of this song, "Mr. Tambourine Man" - this was pointed out to me by one of our editors here. And seeing the verse on paper, (reading) take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind, down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, the haunted, frightened trees.

It does feel, though, as though these lyrics can stand without the song. Why do you think that they can't be divorced?

WILENTZ: Well, I think that the experience of them is much richer with the song - with the music. And it's also his voice, you see. I mean, other people can sing Dylan songs. But I truly believe that his voice is very special. You put all of these things together in any phase of his career and you come with a consummate[5] work of art. I don't mean to say that the lyrics cannot be read on paper as poetry. I think they can.

CORNISH: To your mind, is this just about Dylan? Or does this award, in some way, open the door to songwriters to be thought of in the way that you're talking about?

WILENTZ: Well, I would hope that after this serious songwriters - Leonard Cohen's name comes to mind - would be taken seriously as writers as well because they are writers. And it's really that simple. There's been this artificial - what do we say? - snobbism[势利;孤高情怀;清高主义] about what literature is and what literature isn't. I hope that as much as Bob Dylan has broken down those barriers for his entire career, I hope that this award will help break down those barriers for songwriting generally.

CORNISH: Professor Sean Wilentz of Princeton University[普林斯顿大学]. He's the author of "Bob Dylan In America." Thank you for speaking with us.

WILENTZ: Great to be here. Thanks.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MR. TAMBOURINE MAN")

DYLAN: (Singing) And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind, down the foggy ruins of time, bypass the frozen leaves, the haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow...

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[1]head scratcher：A particularly puzzling or confusing event.令人头痛的问题

[2]laurels：praise for a person because of something they have done, usually in sport, the arts, or politics （尤指在体育、艺术或政治方面获得的）桂冠，荣誉，赞誉

The actors are very good, but when all is considered the laurels must surely go to the director of the play.

演员的表演很出色，但如果综合考虑，这份荣誉应该授予该剧的导演。

[3]Book of Genesis《创世记》是《希伯来圣经》的第一卷书。传统上远古的近东地区通常以书的首几个字为该书的名字。主题：神创造，撒但败坏，人堕落，耶和华应许拯救。

[4]whimsical ['wɪmzɪk(ə)l]

unusual and strange in a way that might be funny or annoying 离奇的；古怪的；异想天开的

a whimsical tale

离奇的故事

Despite his kindly, sometimes whimsical air, he was a shrewd observer of people.

尽管他为人和善有时也有些古怪，但对人的观察很是敏锐。

[5]consummate：perfect, or complete in every way 完美无缺的；圆满的

a life of consummate happiness

美满的幸福生活

He's a consummate athlete/gentleman/liar.

他是个极为出色的运动员／十足的绅士／十足的骗子。

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