He then chronicles the influence of Leadbelly and folk music before turning to several literary war horses
that he said he read “way back in grammar school”: “Moby-Dick,” “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Odyssey.”
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In the speech, which is just over 4,000 words long — and about 27 minutes, in an accompanying recording — Mr. Dylan shows
that he has been thinking about the question too, and gave a defense detailing his literary and musical influences, and ending on a note that every lit major should know.
Bob Dylan Delivers His Nobel Prize Lecture, Just in Time -
By BEN SISARIOJUNE 5, 2017
After Bob Dylan was named the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature last October, the literary
commentariat wrestled with a fundamental question: Can song lyrics be literature?
But Ishmael survives the shipwreck, “in the sea floating on a coffin.” The theme “works
its way into more than a few of my songs,” he wrote, but gave no examples.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — which is also admired by President Trump — portrays the hell of war,
and the role of an artist to document it and give the world a reason to survive.
