Seems Dylan is cool with that Nobel

“ISN’T that something . . . ?” Bob Dylan isn’t exactly making a big deal out of being awarded the Nobel prize for literature. But at least he is finally acknowledging becoming the first musician to be admitted to the world’s most elite literary club.

When I ask him about his reaction to hearing the news a fortnight ago, I have no idea what to expect. Dylan, 75, is on tour in Oklahoma, and we had been due to discuss his new exhibition of art.

Since the award was announced, Dylan has made no public reference to it, save for a fleeting mention on his website that was deleted within 24 hours. More than that, he has reportedly refused to pick up the phone to speak to the Nobel committee. They apparently are in the dark about whether he will attend the ceremony on December 10, to receive a cheque for £750 000 (about R12.6million) from the king of Sweden.

Well, I can put them out of their misery. For when I ask about his Nobel, Dylan is all affability. Yes, he is planning to turn up. “Absolutely. If it’s at all possible.”

He starts to sound pretty pleased about becoming a Nobel laureate. “It’s hard to believe,” he muses. The announcement was unexpected. When he was told, it was, Dylan confides, “amazing, incredible. Whoever dreams about something like that?”

So why the long silence? Dylan has seemed intent on refusing to acknowledge the award, and a Nobel committee member labelled him “impolite and arrogant”.

Dylan sounds bemused by the ruckus. Couldn’t he just have taken the calls from the Nobel committee? “Well, I’m right here,” he says playfully. So, does he agree with the Nobel committee? Sara Danius, of the Swedish Academy, has compared Dylan’s contribution to that of the writers of ancient Greece.

Dylan is hesitant. “I suppose so. Some [of my] songs . . . definitely are Homeric in value.” — © The Daily Telegraph, London