Bob Dylan: A Well Deserve Nobel Prize For Literature

Dylan

When I was told that legendary singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, I was very happy for him. I saw it as a just reward for his over six decades of song writing and performance in which over 100million records was sold.

I also saw cynicisms from some quarters, especially from those who considered themselves ‘professionals’ of ‘main stream’ literature who were questioning the rational for the award even though the Swedish Academy made it clear that he was given the award “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, said it had “not been a difficult decision.” She compared the songs of the American songwriter to the works of Homer and Sappho. “We’re really giving it to Bob Dylan as a great poet – that’s the reason we awarded him the prize. He’s a great poet in the great English tradition, stretching from Milton and Blake onwards. And he’s a very interesting traditionalist, in a highly original way. Not just the written tradition, but also the oral one; not just high literature, but also low literature.”
I did not bother to challenge those who are opposed to the award given to Dylan, because I believe that the Swedish Academy knows better than the critics and if the Academy believes that Dylan was more deserving of the award than  Kenya’s Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, American, Don DeLillo and Japanese author, Haruki Murakami who were also penciled down for consideration for the award this year, that is okay.
However, it was my friend, Igbo-Hebrew Okechukwu Lawrence, who on a Facebook comment that was supposed to be centred on his son’s birthday, digressed and asked my view on Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. Okey is one of the deepest minds that I know and he is a citizen of the world that could make sense out of what seemed like a world in perpetual crisis.
For those who are in doubt on what literature means and whether Bob Dylan’s works fit into the definition of Literature I leave for them this definition of Literature by Esther Lombardi, Classic Literature expert, “Literature is a term used to describe written and sometimes spoken material. Derived from the Latin litteratura meaning ‘writing formed with letters,’ literature most commonly refers to works of the creative imagination, including poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, and in some instances, SONG.”(Emphasis mine).
As a matter of fact I believe that Dylan has opened doors for other song writers to win the Nobel Prize. I will not be surprise if in the years to come 2 Pac wins the award (posthumously), as the poetry that oozes out of his rap lyrics are amazing!