Bob Dylan is a weirdo. And he's from Minnesota. Y'all don't have a problem when Prince acted all weird.
No one's obligated to be polite. No one is obligated not to be sullen, dismissive, or unpleasant either.
But the idea that politeness and common courtesy don't apply if you have talent to me is total bullshit. An artist's courtesy or lack of it has nothing to do with their art. It certainly would never prevent me from listening to Dylon's music or appreciating his work.
But he's acting like an ass, imo, and I see no reason to ignore that or make excuses for it simply because he's a terrific songwriter.
Many great artists have been, shall we say, problematic people in their interactions with other human beings. That's irrelevant to the work they produce. But the work they produce doesn't justify how they act toward other people, either.
That I could respect.Not meaning to make excuses, but honestly, he kinda has a reputation for this kind of thing. So yes, it's graceless—but not surprising.
I halfway expect him to turn it down, honestly.
i would have given you extra points for a husker du reference instead.
No, it wouldn't be a bad idea.If a fan gave you an award, and it became an international thing, would it really be that bad an idea to say, "Thanks. I'm glad you dig the music. I can't make the party, but thanks."?
It's pretty hard to think of something more "establishment" than the Nobel Prize. I can understand why he doesn't care.
As for being arrogant... I dunno. If I gave him a prize, I wouldn't expect him to acknowledge me. The Nobel committee calling him impolite and arrogant kind of sounds to me like a group of hugely privileged posh people being told they're not as relevant or important as they have always thought they were. Smacks of an aristocratic "how DARE you!" disbelief.
For almost a quarter of a century, ever since Toni Morrison won the Nobel in 1993, the Nobel committee acted as if American literature did not exist — and now an American is acting as if the Nobel committee doesn’t exist. Giving the award to Mr. Dylan was an insult to all the great American novelists and poets who are frequently proposed as candidates for the prize. The all-but-explicit message was that American literature, as traditionally defined, was simply not good enough.
But perhaps the best way to understand his silence, and to praise it, is to go back to Sartre, and in particular to Sartre’s concept of “bad faith.”
"The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless," he told the academy's permanent secretary, Sara Danius. "I appreciate the honour so much."