Nobel academy member calls Bob Dylan's silence 'arrogant'

JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press

 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A member of the Swedish Academy that awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to Bob Dylan says the American singer-songwriter's silence since receiving the honor is "impolite and arrogant."

 

Per Wastberg said Dylan's lack of reaction to the honor the academy bestowed on him last week was predictable, but disrespectful nonetheless.

 

"One can say that it is impolite and arrogant. He is who he is," Wastberg was quoted as saying in Saturday's edition of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

 

Wastberg said the academy still hopes to communicate with the 75-year-old artist, whose Nobel credits him with creating "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

 

"We have agreed not to lift a finger. The ball lies entirely on his half," Wastberg told the newspaper. "You can speculate as much as you want but we don't." He was not immediately available for comments.

 

The academy said it has failed to reach the tight-lipped laureate since he became the first musician in the Nobel's 115-year history to win the prize in literature. The award was mentioned on Dylan's official Twitter and Facebook accounts.

 

Dylan spokesman Larry Jenkins did not respond to an email Saturday seeking comment.

 

The literature prize and five other Nobel Prizes will be officially conferred in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

 

Literature laureates have skipped the ceremony before. In 2004, Austrian playwright and novelist Elfriede Jelinek stayed home, citing a social phobia.

Harold Pinter and Alice Munro missed the ceremony for health reasons in 2005 and 2013, respectively.

 

Only two people have declined a Nobel Prize in literature. Boris Pasternak did so under pressure from Soviet authorities in 1958 and Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined all official honors, turned it down in 1964.

 

Although Dylan has not commented publicly on winning the Nobel, privacy and the price of fame have been themes in his music.

 

It's easy to read a response to Wastberg's remarks in the 1981 song, "The Groom's Still Waiting at The Altar."

 

"Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery," part of the lyrics say. "Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your silence for snobbery."

 

Each of this year's Nobel Prizes is worth 8 million Swedish kronor, or about $930,000.

 

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-10-23

It is up to him. There is no requirement that he acknowledge getting the Nobel prize.

Perhaps Bob thinks the Nobel Committee is arrogant. That has always been my impression of that "august" body.

 

 

Ha.  The guy should not be surprised.  Dylan was hardly a conformist.  But I do agree with his assessment.  Having said that, I believe nominees are told in advance they are under consideration.  I guess Dylan could have said no thanks, not interested in being a contender?  That is his choice and he can leave whatever legacy he wants.   I actually saw the man in concert like 50 years ago at the 1965 Newport RI folk festival.  I was only 8.  I also was taken to the jazz festival and I recall I didn't particularly like the jazz music.  The Folk festival  sounded better to my ears.  My parents had some cousins visiting from upstate New York that had some older kids that were teenagers so I guess they got them to take us all. 

25 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

Ha.  The guy should not be surprised.  Dylan was hardly a conformist.  But I do agree with his assessment.  Having said that, I believe nominees are told in advance they are under consideration.  I guess Dylan could have said no thanks, not interested in being a contender?  That is his choice and he can leave whatever legacy he wants.   I actually saw the man in concert like 50 years ago at the 1965 Newport RI folk festival.  I was only 8.  I also was taken to the jazz festival and I recall I didn't particularly like the jazz music.  The Folk festival  sounded better to my ears.  My parents had some cousins visiting from upstate New York that had some older kids that were teenagers so I guess they got them to take us all. 

That was the time when the folkies flipped out for him going electric.

1 minute ago, pegman said:

That was the time when the folkies flipped out for him going electric.

Yep.  I have looked at some videos on the off chance they showed some audience shots of us walking or sitting around.  Funny thing is I remember my Mother smiling and getting a kick out of all the hippies sitting around.  She also later on loved cheech and chong movies.  My mom and dad were about as old fashioned as one could get so Mom's comments always just seemed to stick in my mind.  Later in the 70's we had a restaurant in downtown providence RI near the old providence civic center that had most of the major rock bands play.  Some Dead Heads parked their van out front and my Mom couldn't have been a more gracious host, smiling ear to ear.  The gang was cool.  They had some sandwiches a few beers and all was good.  I suspect my Mom secretly liked the freedom the hippies seemed to have

Bob doesn't need another million bucks. He should send an 'eff off postcard,

 

Wonder what his royalties amount to in a year. Scores of $US M prolly.

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Nobel academy member calls Bob Dylan's silence 'arrogant'

Maybe Bob Dylan thinks you are a bunch of arrogant snobs yourselves and is taking you down a peg.

dylan simply would not be dylan if he did what they would like him to do

 

 

"sometimes even the president of the united states must have to stand naked"

Maybe he hasn't checked the messages on his answering machine yet.  Or he doesn't want to waste money on an international phone call.

 

 

2 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

 Having said that, I believe nominees are told in advance they are under consideration.  

No, they are not told anything in advance.

Assuming there's no more practical reason for Dylan seeming to snub the Swedish Academy and this is not about my mum, I'd guess that it's in what they've awarded him for namely, 'new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition' that might be the reason he's unavailable for comment. 

 

He was influenced in his early years by some traditional American artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly and of course Woody Guthrie but with the latter more his political songs and poetically his influences have been wide ranging not at all necessarily American e.g. T.S. Elliot, William Blake, A. Chekhov and A. Rimbaud.  Apart from Nashville Skyline and the very early blues stuff I would venture to say that he has made music in his own inimitable style rather than conforming to any American song tradition.

 

Although born in America many of his songs even early ones criticise rather than glorify America.

Edited October 23, 20169 yr by piersbeckett

Nobody remembers,at least nobody talks about it - Bob Dylan was presented once to Noble in literature already,quite a while ago,he lost to one poetess ,nobody here knows about her - 99%.Probably he remembers this.

it's funny that they cannot contact dylan...he's touring now, so his whereabouts are known on a daily basis...just buy a vip ticket or call the venue...

Some people have a really idealistic view of Dylan.

"I want to thank the members of the Academy who were bold enough to give me this award......".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oib-Z-obsSk

Dunno if I'm even surprised about it.

 

Many years ago I went to Dylan concert.

About an hour into the performance, he just set down on one of side amplifiers, back turned to the crowd.

That was it.

Production did give free tickets to his next concert, which I did attend. That one went ok.

 

 

Well, he's not averse to accepting prizes so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions yet:

 

 

Gratitude is not a complex emotion, but the expectation of gratitude is.

He's a very old man (75)....he's likely got more worry about his prostate than the Nobel committee.

The Nobel prize committee are the ones who are ignorant.   A quick listen to Dylan's songs or reading a few books about him and they would have known he wouldn't have wanted to receive this.

43 minutes ago, RandolphGB said:

The Nobel prize committee are the ones who are ignorant.   A quick listen to Dylan's songs or reading a few books about him and they would have known he wouldn't have wanted to receive this.

Please explain why he showed up for the presidential Medal of Freedom prize and won't for the Nobel then? Something in his lyrics dissing the Nobel prize? 

Edited October 23, 20169 yr by Jingthing

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Please explain why he showed up for the presidential Medal of Freedom prize and won't for the Nobel then? Something in his lyrics dissing the Nobel prize? 

 

...possibly because it was presented by the President of his country and he had been advised about it and agreed to receive it?

The Nobel Prize for Arrogance and Impoliteness 2016 goes to...The Nobel Academy.

 

There is only one thing more arrogant and impolite than Dylan's non-acknowledgement of the prize and that is the arrogance and impoliteness of the Nobel Academy in assuming that he would, or should, accept it and be grateful.  He didn't request it or apply for it and there is no reason that he should be expected to crawl to the academy to acknowledge an unsolicited prize.

That's silly. You don't apply for a Nobel prize any more than you expect the Spanish Inquisition.

 

...possibly because it was presented by the President of his country and he had been advised about it and agreed to receive it?

That doesn't make any sense. Do you think Dylan is a provincial hick?

Per Wastberg?  Who?

 

Just kidding.  I totally enjoyed "The Case against Portugal -Angola and Mozambique" (1965).

 

555, yeah right.

 

Psst!  Get a better English translator, Per.  That's not a complete sentence in English.

 

And most importantly--it's got no beat, you can't dance to it.

 

Edited October 23, 20169 yr by SiSePuede419
Clarify.

It is Dylan being Dylan. As has always seemed to have been the case, he goes his own way and the rest of the world can only speculate what his reasoning is. In that he has not responded, none of us, nor the Nobel committee, have any idea on his opinion here.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

I predict he will show.

He's always been a pretentious tw&t- the folk version of Bono!

Maybe he just want to stay in his cave until it's over ?  He is a living legend so he don't need to do anything. If they want to give him the prize they have to show up at his doorstep . 

 

Edited October 23, 20169 yr by balo