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In a statement made to the Swedish press after he rejected the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, Jean Paul-Sartre said, “The only battle possible today on the cultural front is the battle for the peaceful coexistence of the two cultures, that of the East and that of the West… I myself am deeply affected by the contradiction between the two cultures: I am made up of such contradictions… This is why I cannot accept an honor awarded by cultural authorities, those of the West any more than those of the East, even if I am sympathetic to their existence.”
Was Sartre right in his refusal of the Prize? He was a person who rejected any official honours, so this was in keeping with his persona. But in his refusal, he pointed out a very important thing — that a writer’s recognition by cultural authorities is coupled with the agony of trying to find the purpose of literature. Such a recognition does not automatically make one a good writer, neither do the ignored become bad writers. But such recognition matters — if not to the writer, at least to book sales and to readers.
If Bob Dylan can win the Nobel Prize for literature then I think >@StephenKing should get elected to the Rock N' Roll hall of fame.
— Jason Pinter (@jasonpinter) >October 13, 2016
Stephen King put it best in his foreword to The Gunslinger , the first book of the Dark Tower series. “I think novelists come in two types, and that includes the sort of fledgling novelist I was by 1970. Those who are bound for the more literary or “serious” side of the job examine every possible subject in light of this question: What would writing this sort of story mean to me? Those whose destiny is to include the writing of popular novels are apt to ask a very different one: What would writing this sort of story mean to others? The “serious” novelist is looking for answers and keys to the self; the “popular” novelist is looking for an audience.”
By and large, those who win the Nobel Prize fall into the former category. An exploration of the human condition is what writing does best, and when it does it well, it moves the reader. There is no word for that feeling you get when you finish a good book and put it down, just wanting to sit there and soak in its gloriousness.
But by giving the Nobel to Bob Dylan, all of this has been negated. Poetry is literature, yes, but all of Dylan’s poetry is tied into his music. He has a number of awards from his own industry to see him through the rest of his life — 12 Grammys, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. To take away one of the few worldwide awards for literature and give it to a songwriter feels like a snub for writers who have toiled to produce a work that truly represents themselves and humankind at large. It is not as if a writer, outside of the spoken word category, is ever going to win a Grammy for contributing inspiration to lyrics.
Best meme of >#Election2016 . >#HillaryClinton>#BillClinton>#ImWithHer>#BobDylan>pic.twitter.com/HsHegu2M00
— LeslieRMyers (@lesliermyers) >October 15, 2016
The citation given to Dylan too sounds like something of a farce: “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
Then next year’s Nobel should be given to certain literature, “that changed the way we interacted with language at a formative stage and challenged our notions of reality.” That was for the nursery rhyme, and imagine the outcry if that got a literature Nobel. Anything can sound deep and meaningful if written that way.
If they did want to honour the song tradition, there are multiple poets who are more deserving of the Prize than Dylan is. And that would answer the purpose of literature at least as far as the Prize’s definition is concerned: “outstanding work in an ideal direction”. If the Nobel committee wanted to expand what literature means, one could argue that hip-hop served a far richer, historical purpose than Dylan’s poetry/music ever did. In doing what the committee did, they might have expanded what literature means, but the question of fulfilling the purpose of literature remains.
