{"id":15726,"date":"2016-10-13T12:25:15","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T17:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/?p=15726"},"modified":"2016-10-13T12:25:15","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T17:25:15","slug":"bob-dylan-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawrenceperson.com\/?p=15726","title":{"rendered":"Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize in Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not a headline from The Onion<\/a>. A real headline from the world of 2016:<\/p>\n

Bob Dylan, the brilliant, iconoclastic musician who has for decades defied people\u2019s expectations, was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Dylan was awarded the prize \u201cfor having created new poetic expressions within the American song tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most prominent musicians of the last half-century, Dylan had long been rumored to be considered for the prize, but literary watchers considered his name among those in the running a novelty. He is the first American to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993.<\/p>\n

The room of watchers at the Swedish Academy seemed shocked by the announcement, one calling the decision \u201cradical\u201d when asking Sara Danils, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, about the choice.<\/p>\n

She compared Dylan to the poet Sappho, and then suggested the interviewer begin with Dylan\u2019s record “Blonde on Blonde.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blink.<\/p>\n

Blink.<\/em><\/p>\n

I never put any stock in the Nobel Prize in Literature (or Peace, for that matter) and can conceive of worse choices. But I was unaware that Jack Black’s character from High Fidelity<\/i> was on the Nobel Prize committee.<\/p>\n

So here’s the opening track of Blonde on Blonde<\/b>:<\/p>\n