Dylan accepts Nobel prize six months later
AFTER months of uncertainty and controversy, Bob Dylan finally accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature at a jovial, champagne-laced ceremony on Saturday.
The Swedish Academy, which awards the coveted prize, ended prolonged speculation as to whether or not the 75-year-old troubadour would use a concert stopover in Stockholm to accept the gold medal and diploma awarded to him in October last year.
They were handed to Dylan at a “private ceremony in Stockholm” attended by 12 academy members, Sara Danius, the academy’s permanent secretary, said in a blog post.
“Spirits were high. Champagne was had,” Danius confided.
“Quite a bit of time was spent looking closely at the gold medal, in particular the beautifully crafted back, an image of a young man sitting under a laurel tree who listens to the Muse,” she added.
“Taken from Virgil’s Aeneid, the inscription reads: Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes, loosely translated as ‘And they who bettered life on earth by their newly found mastery’.”
The first songwriter to receive the prestigious award, Dylan joins a celebrated group of laureates, including Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Doris Lessing.
The meeting took place at a secret location ahead of Dylan’s first concert in Stockholm, the first stop on a longplanned European tour for his latest album of cover songs, Triplicate.
Dylan had not been expected to deliver his traditional Nobel lecture at the meeting — the only requirement to receive the eight million kronor (about (R11-million) that comes with the prize.
He has until June 10 to provide his lecture, which could be anything from a short speech to a performance, a video broadcast or even a song.
Failing that, he risks losing the prize money.
“The Academy has reason to believe that a taped version will be sent at a later point,” Danius said on Wednesday.
Several Academy members, including Danius, were present at the concert as Dylan, wearing a white hat, westernstyle black blazer and cowboy boots, performed Love Sick and Full Moon And Empty Arms, part of a playlist of standards and self-penned hits.
The American rock enigma’s performance was met with a cheering crowd, which gave repeated standing ovations, especially when he played a harmonica.
“Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, ‘Are my songs literature?’” Dylan said in a thank-you speech read out by the United States ambassador to Sweden during the December Nobel ceremony in Stockholm.
He skipped the event due to “pre-existing commitments”.
Dylan later apologised for not being able to attend the ceremony and expressed surprise over being chosen for an honour given to literature heavyweights such as Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus. — AFP