Nobel Prize in Literature
October 14, 2016
On October 13, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to the American composer, singer, and musician Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” He became the first songwriter to win the award.
Nobel Prize medal (Credit: Nobel Foundation)
Dylan has been one of the most influential songwriters of the past 50 years. He called his early work “finger-pointing songs” aimed at what many people considered the wrongs of society. These early songs, often performed with acoustic guitar and harmonica, included “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Masters of War” (both 1963) and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964). These songs became anthems that helped galvanize the civil rights movement of the United States and captured the spirit of young American protesters who opposed the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War (1957-1975).
American singer, composer, and musician Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. Credit: © Valerie Wilmer, Camera Press/Redux Pictures
Dylan turned to electronic instruments in 1965, producing one of the greatest of all rock songs, “Like a Rolling Stone.” Dylan recorded many other popular songs, including “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965), “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1965), “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35″ (1966), “Just Like a Woman” (1966), “Lay Lady Lay” (1969), “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (from the soundtrack of the 1973 motion picture Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid), and “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975). Many other artists have recorded Dylan’s songs.
Dylan’s switch from acoustic to electronic music in 1965 angered some of his fans but won him many new ones. Dylan has shifted musical directions several times, such as turning to country music in the late 1960′s and Christian music in the early 1980′s. Today, Dylan continues to explore a variety of musical genres, drawing from folk, blues, country music, jazz, and early rock traditions.
Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 24, 1941. His real name was Robert Allen Zimmerman. After dropping out of the University of Minnesota in 1961, he moved to New York City to meet his idol, folk singer Woody Guthrie.
Dylan has won almost a dozen Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. He won an Academy Award for his song “Things Have Changed” from the motion picture Wonder Boys (2000). Dylan received a Pulitzer Prize citation in 2008 for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, in 2012.
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