Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature. So?

On October 13, Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy announced the big news:

“The 2016 ‪Nobel Prize‬ in Literature is awarded to Bob Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.



He's the first musician to ever be given the honor. Within only minutes both traditional and social media worldwide spread the news. Bob Dylan! The Nobel Prize in literature!? Reactions ranged from, "the best choice ever made" to "it's like inducting Stephen King into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame".

In my humble opinion it's probably another legendary songwriter icon who put it the best way:

"It's like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain" – Leonard Cohen

So, Mrs. Danius, why is it that Dylan was the awarded the prize this year?


His Bobness, as usual, did not make any public statement on that matter at all. In a way isn't it exactly what you could have expected? Being a "song and dance man" and all? It is to be expected that he will speak to us when receiving his award of roughly $900,000 on December 10th in Stockholm, Sweden. So in the meantime let's listen to what others had to say:

"Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel." – President Barack Obama

"He planted a flag, wrote the songs, sang the words that were essential to the times, to the emotional and spiritual survival of so many young Americans at that moment." – Bruce Springsteen

"Before epic tales and poems were ever written down, they migrated on the winds of the human voice and no voice is greater than Dylan's." – Tom Waits

"We have never shared the stage with a Nobel Prize winner before. Bob is like our own Walt Whitman." – Mick Jagger

Image credit: Nobelprize.org

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