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1

“No Direction Home”: The Life and Literature of Bob Dylan–From “Desolation Row” to the Nobel Prize

100%

Gearon L.

Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture

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2020

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issue 10

166-181

EN

Using the Nobel Prize as a prism through which to view the life and literature of a difficult-to-define artist, this article argues that Dylan’s output is one in which life and literature become, and have always been, indistinguishable. It is the life which has made the literature, through years lived in a particular niche of 1960s counter-cultural history; the lyrics gave voice to a man who was never at ease in the formalities of interview. For a supposed spokesman of a generation Dylan spoke very little except through his songs. So too in the more difficult-to-define later decades, little of his life was spoken of except through song, and some samplings of autobiography. Detailing the historically distinctive features of the Nobel Prize, the article shows how Bob Dylan has, through life and literature, broken down the boundaries between the literary and the popular. The article’s title is drawn, of course, from a famous line in Bob Dylan’s era-defining “Like a Rolling Stone,” one which Martin Scorsese used to title a full-length documentary on the life of Bob Dylan. Dylan here occupies the borderlands where art imitates life, and life imitates art. I argue, contrary to critical consensus, that there is a direction home. In Dylan’s lifetime of existentially staring death (political death, the death of romance) in the face, there is some glimpse of home. It is that glimpse which gives the poet’s lyrical output its endurance as literature.

2

Bob Dylan o prawach człowieka – odpowiedzialność jednostki i struktury

89%

Radomski J.

Kultura Współczesna. Teoria. Interpretacje. Praktyka

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2021

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vol. 114

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issue 2

189-203

EN

This article focuses on human rights – a central topic in Bob Dylan’s works since the beginning of his career. Analysing a selection of texts in which this winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature refers to the situation of black Americans, the author tries to capture and define Dylan’s recurring narrative regarding the responsibility of individuals, structures and institutions, and their mutual relationships. The analysis focuses on the motif of accusation: who and what is it addressed to? In his discussion of Dylan’s narrative, the author refers to the concept of habitus proposed by Pierre Bourdieu. It is defined as a set of rules incorporated by an individual from the environment and later applied in individual attitudes and actions. Based on the analysis of Dylan’s most important works on human rights, the article shows that the American artist’s perception of the scope of individual and structural responsibility is similar to the concept described by Bourdieu, and as such belongs within a specific borderline sphere.

3

Just Like a Woman. Bob Dylan o kobietach i mężczyznach

89%

Kiec I.

International Journal of Slavic Studies Transgressive, Pragmatic and Speculative Horizons of Popular Literature and Culture

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2020

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vol. 1

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issue 2

EN

The starting point to consider is the story of one of Bob Dylan’s most famous songs dedicated to a woman, but – what the author of the article is trying to show – above all defining men of the sixties generation. It is situated between the traditionally understood role of a man – a warrior and conqueror, and a new man, whose image will be born with the victory of the second wave of feminism in the 1970s. It is called the generation of Boys from the Rain (inspired by Dylan, but also Jerzy Szaniawski’s Dreams Theatre), The Savages (according to Robert Bly) or – bards, for whom the song is a drug, a substitute for femininity, the only companion follow in their wake. An image of a new woman from a non-feminist perspective is shown – it’s an evil woman who is the heroine of the Polish equivalent of Dylan’s song – Andrzej Bianusz’s Jak to dziewczyna [Like a girl].

4

The Wind Knows the Answer Ideological Transformations of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” in Polish

89%

Antosz-Rekucki J.

Acta Neophilologica

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2023

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vol. XXV/2

55-77

PL

„Blowin’ In The Wind” to jedna z piosenek uznawanych za najbardziej reprezentatywne dla twórczości Dylana, a zarazem najchętniej tłumaczony na język polski z jego tekstów. W artykule zostaje przeprowadzona analiza przekształceń ideologicznych i poetologicznych treści „Blowin’ In The Wind” w polskich przekładach melicznych, demonstrująca, że kluczowe cechy źródłowego utworu (w tym: kontekst aktywizmu na rzecz równości społecznej i aluzje do Biblii) zostały poddane silnym zmianom, by dostosować tłumaczenia tak do wymogów kultury docelowej, jak i do potrzeb i wartości poszczególnych tłumaczy.

EN

“Blowin’ in the Wind” is considered to be one of the lyrics most representative of Bob Dylan’s songwriting and is the one most frequently translated into Polish among the American poet’s texts. This article analyses the ideological and poetological transformations of the original in its melic translations into Polish, demonstrating that its arguably key features (including engagement with social activism and use of Biblical allusions) underwent dramatic shifts to fit the constraints of target culture expectations and the needs and values of respective translators.

5

Protest song Masters of War Boba Dylana – analiza luhmannowska

87%

Ostrowski M.

Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica

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2018

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vol. 51

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issue 5

143-159

EN

The article interprets Bob Dylan’s protest song Masters of War from a Systems Theory perspective.

PL

Artykuł interpretuje protest song Boba Dylana Masters of War z perspektywy teorii systemów.

6

The Times They Are A-Changin’

51%

Jędrzejko P.

Review of International American Studies

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2019

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vol. 12

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issue 2

5-24

EN

The article, whose central premise is to address the ellusive issue of the Zeitgeist of the "long 1968," revolves around the appeal of the singer-songwriter activism and the international, cross-cultural popularity of protest songs that defy political borders and linguistic divides. The argument opens with reference to Bob Dylan's famous song "The Times They Are A-Changing," whose evergreen topicality resulted not only in the emergence of its numerous official and unofficial covers and reinterpretations, but also generated translations into all major languages of the world, and which has provided inspiration to engaged artists, whose present-day remakes serve as a medium of criticism of the unjust mechanisms of power affecting contemporary societies. The "spirit of the 1968," which evades clear-cut definitions attempted by cultural historians and sociologists, seems to lend itself to capturing in terms of what Beate Kutschke dubs "mental" criteria, perhaps best comprehended in the analysis of the emotional reactions to simple messages of exhortative poetry or simple protest songs, which appeal to the shared frustrations of self-organized, grassroot movements and offer them both the sense of purpose and a glimpse of hope. In this sense, the Zeitgeist of '68 is similar to that of revolutionary Romanticism that united the young engaged intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic, and whose messages reverberate in the activist songwriters' work until today. As such, the essay provides the keynote to the whole issue, which explores some of the transnational legacies of "1969."

Refine search results

1 Acta Neophilologica

1 Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica

1 International Journal of Slavic Studies Transgressive, Pragmatic and Speculative Horizons of Popular Literature and Culture

1 Kultura Współczesna. Teoria. Interpretacje. Praktyka

1 Review of International American Studies

1 Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture

1 Antosz-Rekucki J.

1 Gearon L.

1 Jędrzejko P.

1 Kiec I.

1 Ostrowski M.

1 Radomski J.

1 2023

1 2021

2 2020

1 2019

1 2018

“No Direction Home”: The Life and Literature of Bob Dylan–From “Desolation Row” to the Nobel Prize

Bob Dylan o prawach człowieka – odpowiedzialność jednostki i struktury

Just Like a Woman. Bob Dylan o kobietach i mężczyznach

The Wind Knows the Answer Ideological Transformations of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” in Polish

Protest song Masters of War Boba Dylana – analiza luhmannowska

The Times They Are A-Changin’