>>>>
Atlantic Monthly got it even more clearly and comprehensibly in Spencer Kornhaber's excellent article ( although the editors shoved the article into the Entertainment section!):
The speech itself is typically Dylan in a few ways: It seems perched between sincerity and trolling, draws from Western culture's most elemental influences, and works according to its own logic. Reaction has been mixed; some people have pointed out that Dylan's writing has the sophistication of a high-school book report (e.g.: "Moby Dick is a seafaring tale. One of the men, the narrator, says, 'Call me Ishmael.'"). But part of the point surely is in the colloquial style of his retelling: He's turning tomes into folktales. He's also arguably doing something more subtle. Through summary, he's showing how literature and song defy summary.
But Dylan's not just trying to illuminate some of the themes of his work. With these knotty book summaries, rendered in prose that's alternately plain and purple, crammed with details, seething with feeling, he's paying tribute to art's irreducibility. <.>
To close, he reflects, "I don't have to know what a song means ... When Melville put all his Old Testament, biblical references, scientific theories, Protestant doctrines, and all that knowledge of the sea and sailing ships and whales into one story, I don't think he would have worried about it either--what it all means." He also points out that "songs are unlike literature " lyrics in songs are meant to be sung, not read on a page." So it may be significant that this lecture arrives as a sound file with background music and Dylan's one-of-a-kind phrasing. To fully appreciate what he's saying, you can't read someone else's write-up. You've got to listen.
(Article changed on June 14, 2017 at 01:24)
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