Bob Dylan Got Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016

October 13, 2016

There is a never-ending debate on the literary sense of the lyrics of songs. Some people say that lyrics are not really literature. Lyrics are exclusively made for songs. Some people is of the opinion that lyrics do have literary content in them as well. Some other people conclude that songs are mostly musical translation of poems, in some sense.

There are numerous examples, at least in my native language, where a poem has been converted to a song. Therefore, on one hand, some poems, even if it doesn't have rhyme at the end of each line, are inherently candidates to be songs. On the other hand, almost every song, barring some specific ones, is probably itself a poem. They can be recited without even the music. They probably still make sense with their contents, feelings, emotions lying within.

This is more so in Dylan's writing. Coming from a Bengali middle-class family (now, this has become such a broad term, that almost everybody is included in this section), which is mostly focused in Bengali and classical music, I was unaware of any other genre of music, for the most part of my life. But we still used to listen Suman Chattopadhyay, just like everybody in the 90s. It is Suman, from whom we learned about and acquainted to Dylan and his songs. Now, Suman himself has converted poems into songs with his own music. Also, if you just recite Suman's songs, it feels like a poem in itself. This is true for Dylan's songs as well. Today, Dylan got Nobel Prize for literature. Although Nobel is a highly controversial prize, still it's, in some sense, showing its current position in this debate. Nobel committee thinks that songs can be considered as literature if it has some "poetic expression" to influence a culture.

I referenced Suman because Suman opened up Dylan for me and many like me. His Bengali lyrics were not mere translation from English but translation of ideas and emotions. This is where Dylan's Nobel is a joy to many people like me who still like to think. We, who think about global issues, personal issues, write a bit or two about them, are feeling exuberant about this. Because just like Dylan, our writings are, whatever crap it may sound, honest. Dylan wrote his lyrics with utmost honesty and with the spirit of freedom. Hope this feeling prevails.

There's one more reason to be joyful. When Dylan was writing, that was a turbulent time in America. Civil right was heavily compromised. Dylan became a face of the protest through cultural revolution (if you have allergy to the term "revolution", say "protest"). The situation still exists at some level. Black live matters protests still exist. But there are not many protests culturally. Recently, an actress Shailene Woodley (Fault in our Stars, Snowden) was arrested because of her support to indigenous people's right to their own lands in the States. However, mainstream media, as shallow as they are, is not covering it. In this critical moment, when intolerance is uprising in every corner of the globe, be it through uprising of Trump or any far-right group, there should be more and more liberal and social movements.

Nobel committee generally gives Peace Prize to send some message, at least that's what we want to think, especially when they give it to Barack Obama or nominate Hitler. I hope that Dylan's prize also sends this liberal message to all over the globe. Let's see how many deaths will it take!