Why Bob Dylan Matters, Revised Edition
- ISBN-10
- 0062937987
- ISBN-13
- 9780062937988
- Category
- Music
- Pages
- 384
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-09-15
- Publisher
- Dey Street Books
- Author
- Richard F. Thomas
Description
“The coolest class on campus” – The New York Times When the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan in 2016, a debate raged. Some celebrated, while many others questioned the choice. How could the world’s most prestigious book prize be awarded to a famously cantankerous singer-songwriter who wouldn’t even deign to attend the medal ceremony? In Why Bob Dylan Matters, Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas answers this 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 brought him vindication, and he immediately found himself thrust into the spotlight as a leading academic voice in all matters Dylanological. Today, through his wildly popular Dylan seminar—affectionately dubbed "Dylan 101"—Thomas is introducing a new generation of fans and scholars to the revered bard’s work. This witty, personal volume is a distillation of Thomas’s famous course, and makes a compelling case for moving Dylan out of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and into the pantheon of Classical poets. Asking us to reflect on the question, "What makes a classic?", Thomas offers an eloquent argument for Dylan’s modern relevance, while interpreting and decoding Dylan’s lyrics for readers. The most original and compelling volume on Dylan in decades, Why Bob Dylan Matters will illuminate Dylan’s work for the Dylan neophyte and the seasoned fanatic alike. You’ll never think about Bob Dylan in the same way again.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Why Bob Dylan Matters
By Richard F. ThomasThis witty, personal volume is a distillation of Thomas’s famous course, and makes a compelling case for moving Dylan out of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and into the pantheon of Classical poets.
-
The World of Bob Dylan
By Sean LathamThis book features 27 integrated essays that offer access to the art, life, and legacy of one of the world's most influential artists.
-
The Philosophy of Modern Song
By Bob DylanHe analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose.
-
Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited
By Clinton HeylinDeemed by The New Yorker as "the most readable and reliable" of all Dylan biographies, this book will give fans what they have always wanted -- a chance to get to know the man behind the shades.
-
Bob Dylan in America
By Sean WilentzA noted historian presents an assessment of Bob Dylan and his music that draws on unprecedented access to rare materials and illuminates key cultural influences.
-
The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling, 1941-1966
By Clinton HeylinWith fresh and revealing information on every page A Restless, Hungry Feeling tells the story of Dylan's meteoric rise to fame: his arrival in early 1961 in New York, where he is embraced by the folk scene; his elevation to spokesman of a ...
-
Bob Dylan's Poetics: How the Songs Work
By Timothy HamptonBob Dylan’s Poetics: How the Songs Work offers both a nuanced engagement with the work of a major artist and a meditation on the contribution of song at times of political and social change.
-
Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track Expanded Edition
By Philippe Margotin, Jean-Michel GuesdonIt is the only book to tell the stories, many unfamiliar even to his most fervent fans, behind the more than 500 songs he has released over the span of his career.
-
Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan
By Howard Sounes'Engagingly written and scrupulously researched' Observer An UPDATED EDITION of Howard Sounes' classic, definitive biography to mark the legendary Bob Dylan's 80th birthday __________ Bob Dylan was the first figure...
-
Dylan's Visions of Sin
By Christopher RicksDylan's Visions of Sin