Why was the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Bob Dylan in 20 16?

After the results of the literature prize were announced, I saw some tweets from the official account of WeChat. The main idea expressed in most news and official WeChat accounts is that the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to American folk artist Bob Dylan in 20 16. I brushed my circle of friends and found that my classmates were all very talented. Students preparing for GRE said: Facts have proved that Nobel Prize in Literature can be obtained without using any GRE vocabulary. Some students ridiculed: You ask me what literature is every day and why it is worth studying, because: our literature, fashion and fashion are the most fashionable.

Obviously, the combination of "folk artists" and "Nobel Prize in Literature" is particularly eye-catching. Because I don't understand folk songs, I won't discuss them for the time being. Considering that the award is a literary prize, I am actually a little shocked by this result. After all, folk songs, songs or lyrics do not belong to any literary form within the scope of personal understanding. How can I get Nobel Prize in Literature? Not to mention Haruki Murakami, what makes me feel embarrassed about the writers who have been with me more or less once or twice over the years? But on second thought, this is Nobel Prize in Literature, a world-class literary prize, and there should be a reason.

In order to answer this question, we need to focus on the following three aspects:

1.？ What is the selection criteria of Nobel Prize in Literature? Why do people always guess the ending? There will always be controversy.

2.？ How did Nobel Prize in Literature write this year's award speech to Bob Dylan? (Official reasons are very important)

3.？ Does Bob Dylan's works meet the evaluation of Swedish Academy of Literature? (Being worthy of the name is also very important)

First of all, what is the selection criteria of Nobel Prize in Literature?

What is certain is that Nobel Prize in Literature's selection must follow Nobel's own wishes; In his will, Nobel gave a simple criterion for the literary prize: "Award to those who have created the most outstanding works in the ideal direction in the field of literature. There are two key words in it, one is "towards an ideal direction" and the other is "the most outstanding work". However, there is no specific definition of what is the "ideal direction" and what is the "most outstanding work", which leads to many outstanding writers recognized by the public, such as lev tolstoy and Zola, not winning prizes, while Russell, as a philosopher, and Churchill, as a politician, are not so important in front of Nobel Prize in Literature. What it values more is that works can promote the development of literature, and winning prizes can promote outstanding writers to be accepted by the whole world.

According to this standard, Haruki Murakami is not wronged if he can't get Nobel Prize in Literature. As a world-famous writer, this award can neither promote the development of literature nor make outstanding writers accepted by the whole world. By the same token, I personally think that the best way for Swedish Academy of Literature is to choose Tagore, which makes Tagore become a writer with world influence from a famous Indian poet. His works have been translated into many languages and spread around the world, which greatly promotes the development of literature.

What about Bob? Why did Dylan win the prize?

Does he meet the award criteria of Nobel Prize in Literature? Or, does his work conform to the evaluation of the Swedish Academy of Literature?

According to the BBC, Nobel Prize in Literature awarded Bob Dylan in 20 16 for the following reasons:

The 75-year-old musician was awarded the honor of "creating a new poetic expression in the great American song tradition" by the Swedish Academy on Thursday.

On Thursday, the Swedish Academy Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob, a 75-year-old musician, in recognition of his "creation of a new poetic expression in the great American music tradition". Dylan.

Through the acceptance speech, two points can be determined. According to the literature of Swedish Academy, on the one hand, Bob? Dylan created a new poetic expression in his songs, which promoted the development of literature in an ideal direction; On the other hand, Bob? Dylan's works are the best When answering a reporter's question, PerW, a member of the Swedish Academy Literature Award? Sterberg thinks: Bob? Dylan may be the greatest poet of our time. Sarah Danius, the permanent secretary-general of the Nobel Committee, believes that the works of ancient Greek writers Homer and Sapo are also "created for performance, often played with musical instruments, Bob? Dylan is the same. " Which means, Bob? Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature more as a writer. According to the data, besides being a folk singer, he also published the surreal novel Tarantula, autobiography Like a Rolling Stone and Chronicle, which made people pay attention to and discuss his literary value and status again.

In addition, whether folk songs are literary works is really open to question after careful consideration. According to the records in the history of English literature, before the Anglo-Saxon period or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, literature was indeed expressed by oral singing, and Beowulf was one of the typical works, which also confirmed Sarah Danius's point of view. Tearing off the coat of folk songs, he really promoted the development of literature and "created a new poetic expression in the great tradition of American songs."

It is worth mentioning that if you look at the encyclopedia entry, you can find that this is not Bob? Dylan nominated Nobel Prize in Literature for the first time, and he also won an Oscar. Because I like playwright Bernard Shaw very much, I have always been concerned that only Bernard Shaw has won both the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Oscar. What about yesterday, Bob? Dylan also did it. From 65438 to 0925, Bernard Shaw won the Nobel Prize in Literature as a dramatist, which promoted the development of drama research in the field of literary research. Predictable: Bob this time? Dylan's award will greatly promote the study of folk songs by literary researchers; What's certain is Bob. The poetic nature in Dylan's works will be the key research direction. Similarly, the poetic study of lyrics may also enter the category of literary research, or in a few years, folk songs will become an elective course for literary majors. From this perspective, in terms of "promoting the development of literature in the ideal direction and bringing new vitality to literature": compared with other candidates, Bob? Dylan is also more in line with the award-winning criteria in Nobel's will.

Of course, it's a pity that I don't know Bob personally. Obviously, it is impossible to draw a conclusion about Dylan's creative connotation just by reading his resume or understanding his lyrics through Wikipedia or Netease Cloud Music. So I can't accurately judge how his works created a new poetic expression for the Song tradition, but I believe that in the next year, many literary researchers will discuss this issue, which is the charm of literary research. Let's wait and see ~