So, Bob Dylan won an honorary Pulitzer, for his contribution to American culture. It seems that people are surprised by this, as it is the first time that rock’n'roll has been awarded. It doesn’t really seem surprising to me. Awarding Bob Dylan the Pulitzer now seems more like getting it done before closing time, possibly even spurred on by I’m Not There. Also, all it really shows, is that Bob Dylan is an icon of the Sixties and that the Sixties counterculture is slowly being completely incorporated into American cultural life.
Whatever the musical merits of Dylan’s post-1980s output, it seems a safe bet that Dylan won for his work in the 1960s. He certainly didn’t win for his album Modern Times (2006), so his recent work is less significant than his collected output. Dylan has been awared quite a bit in recent years, but the Pulitzer is probably the highest honor so far.
But in fact, what is interesting about the Dylan Pulitzer, really isn’t Dylan; it’s about how these awards work. It was inevitable that Dylan ended up getting a Pultzer Prize, and not surprising as commentators say. It was clearly necessary for the Pulitzer committee to reinvigorate the Pulitzers by making them more relevant to the times, otherwise they were in danger of never being able to award other musicians than jazz musicians and classic composers. Dylan’s honorary award is the first step in this direction, and in that sense, the Pultizers need Dylan more than he needs a Pulitzer.
Times are a-changing, then, as the awards need the celebrities and the celebrities in fact award the prizes with their glamor, rather than the prizes awarding anything to the celebrities. Perhaps this was always the case, and with the ubiquity of award shows all over the world, it definitely seems that the awards needs the celebrities.
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While it’s true that celebrity culture is heavily embroiled in a capitalist economy and that awards participate eagerly in this circulation, the Pulitzers have actually been pretty anti-glamorous and nerdy if one looks at them historically. Lately they have also taken a stab at political correctness…
For one thing the Pulitzer special citations have often been awarded posthumously, unlike the Nobels, so there is no sell-by date to worry about on these. Rather the motivations often list special anniversaries as the cause, or at least contributions over three decades or half a century. This is probably also why Dylan’s number came up…
Secondly, the Pulitzers are more about unsexy fields such as journalism (Mr. P. himself coming from the field) and American history, whereas literature, and belatedly music, seem almost to be afterthoughts – certainly the committee has added categories that were not named in the original Pulitzer will.
Third, the recipients of special citations awards have not been all that mainstream: John Coltrane (posthumously 2007), Thelonious Monk (posthumously 2006). George Gershwin and Duke Ellington (who were more mainstream) also got posthumous citations, both in the centennial year of their birth. It seems to me the Pulitzers are using these special citations to redress some ethnic imbalances in the awards patterns of earlier years – all of the guys mentioned above are either African-Americn or Jewish… Too bad they couldn’t come up with some women too!
“Whatever the musical merits of Dylan’s post-1980s output…”
I always liked the Traveling Wilburys. But I agree, the Pulitzer process is interesting here. Whether or not Pulitzer needs Dylan (which I’m inclined to accept to a degree), Dylan’s art is worthy on its own merits. Though these categories were not part of the original will, as Bent points out, I feel Dylan certainly fits within the original spirit of what Pulitzer was to award.
I agree with Stuart on Dylan’s merits. Note that Art Spiegelman, whose work doesn’t fit the Pulitzer categories either, also got the special citation award for Maus (1992). It’s a bit harder to explain why they gave one to Herb Caen in 1996 (unless it was for coining the word ‘beatnik’!)
I was totally taken aback by this announcement regarding Dylan and Pulitzer. But certainly well deserved.
I don’t know if you were reporting on the news (and good news it is) or are actually a fan, but if you are then I thought I’d introduce you to my new novel, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS, which I think you’d enjoy.
It’s a murder-mystery. But not just any rock superstar is knocking on heaven’s door. The murdered rock legend is none other than Bob Dorian, an enigmatic, obtuse, inscrutable, well, you get the picture…
Suspects? Tons of them. The only problem is they’re all characters in Bob’s songs.
You can get a copy on Amazon.com or go “behind the tracks” at http://www.bloodonthetracksnovel.com to learn more about the book.
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