Why Dylan Matters
‘At last an expert classicist gets to grips with Bob Dylan’ Mary BeardWhen the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan in 2016, the literary world was up in arms. How could the world’s most prestigious book prize be awarded to a famously cantankerous singer-songwriter in his seventies, who wouldn’t even deign to make a victory speech?In Why Dylan Matters, Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas answers that question with magisterial erudition. A world expert on Classical poetry, Thomas was initially ridiculed by his colleagues for teaching a course on Bob Dylan alongside his traditional seminars on Homer, Virgil and Ovid. Dylan’s Nobel prize win brought him vindication, and he immediately found himself thrust into the limelight as a leading academic voice in all matters Dylanological.This witty, personal volume is a distillation of Thomas’s famous course, and makes a compelling case for moving Dylan out of the rock n’ roll Hall of Fame and into the pantheon of Classical poets. The most dazzlingly original and compelling Dylan book in decades, Why Dylan Matters will amaze and astound everyone from the first-time listener to the lifetime fan. You’ll never think about Bob Dylan in the same way again.
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William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2017
First published in the United States by Dey Street, an imprint of William Morrow in 2017
This William Collins ebook edition published in 2018
Copyright © Richard F. Thomas 2017
Designed by Renata De Oliveira
Richard F. Thomas asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Nobel Prize in Literature, Award Ceremony Speech 2016 © The Nobel Foundation 2016
Nobel Prize in Literature, Banquet Speech 2016 © The Nobel Foundation 2016
Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Lecture 2017 © Bob Dylan p. 13, Nobel Prize in Literature, Medal image, reverse side © The Nobel Foundation, Photo: Lovisa Engblom
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
Source ISBN: 9780008245467
Ebook Edition © August 2017 ISBN: 9780008245481 Version: 2018-11-06
‘At last an expert classicist gets to grips with Bob Dylan. Richard Thomas takes us from Dylan’s high school Latin club to his haunting engagement with Ovid and Homer in recent albums. He carefully argues that Dylan’s poetry deserves comparison with Virgil’s – and Thomas, senior professor of Latin at Harvard and author of some of the most influential modern studies of Virgil, should know!’
Mary Beard
‘A poignant blend of memoir, literary analysis through a classical lens, musicology and, above all, love. [Thomas] loves Dylan with a passion so selfless and so intense that it’s impossible to emerge from the book untouched’
Guardian
‘Accessible and enjoyable … Richard F. Thomas’s elegant, charming book offers something for everyone – not just the super-fans’
Independent
‘The coolest class on campus’
New York Times
‘The book joyously bounces from topic to topic, mixing anecdotes about Dylan’s creative process, historical concerts, and wry press conferences with penetrating literary critique – and no shortage of Thomas’ own personal recollections of bonding with Dylan’s music. A highly informed, yet intimately personal celebration of one of our most important living writers – not despite, but because of the medium in which he writes’
NPR
‘Thomas’ outstanding, eminently readable and beautifully bound work, answers that question in relation to his subject with a resounding ‘Yes’. Dylan matters. Emphatically’
Tribune
‘Why Dylan Matters is about the work of an astonishingly great artist and performer, and how that work echoes the great Greek and Roman poet-performers – Homer, Virgil, Horace, Catullus and Ovid – whose five voices are heard in Dylan’s work. Richard Thomas teaches us, with loving and passionate authority, how he hears in these poems the voices and music of these great ancient poets; he teaches us how poems listen and hear and speak to other poems through all time’
David Ferry, winner of the National Book Award for Poetry
‘Richard Thomas has created a monument to Bob Dylan – and, also, a Rosetta Stone. The erudite and politically engaged Thomas is the perfect guide through the wondrous mystery of Dylan’s genius’
James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Sword
‘Secures Dylan’s place in a pantheon of literary heroes from Virgil to Eliot. A critical breakthrough that makes a masterful case for why Dylan is the bard of our times’
Andrew McCarron,
author of Light Come Shining: The Transformations of Bob Dylan
‘Listen to Bob Dylan in performance. But read this book for help on how to hear his lyrics’
Irish Examiner
‘An enormously rewarding academic study of Dylan’s significance and significations … Thomas’s classicist’s training, sharp ear for allusion and taste for detailed research give his book a very special and distinctive allure’
Argo
CONTENTS
1 WHY DOES DYLAN MATTER TO US?
3 DYLAN AND ANCIENT ROME: “THAT’S WHERE I WAS BORN”
4 “VIBRATIONS IN THE UNIVERSE”: DYLAN TELLS HIS OWN STORY
5 THE EARLY THEFTS: “MINE’VE BEEN LIKE VERLAINE’S AND RIMBAUD’S”
6 “THE GIFT WAS GIVEN BACK”: TIME OUT OF MIND AND BEYOND
7 MATURE POETS STEAL: VIRGIL, DYLAN, AND THE MAKING OF A CLASSIC
8 MODERN TIMES AND THE WORLD’S ANCIENT LIGHT: BECOMING HOMER
