Ο Αμερικανός πρεσβευτής στην Σουηδία
διάβασε την επιστολή του Bob Dylan για την βράβευση του με το Nobel
λογοτεχνίας. Είναι εξωπραγματικό το ότι είμαι πια στην ίδια λίστα με
όλους αυτούς τους τιμημένους ανθρώπους, αν κάποιος μου έλεγε ότι θα
κερδίσω το Nobel θα νόμιζα ότι θα ήταν πιο εύκολο να πατήσω στο
φεγγάρι.
Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.
I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person,
but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and
honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or
seen coming. From an early age,
I’ve been familiar with and reading and
absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a
distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus,
Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are taught in the
schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in
reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the
names on such a list is truly beyond words.
I don’t know if these men and women ever
thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone
writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor
that secret dream deep down inside. It’s probably buried so deep that
they don’t even know it’s there.
If someone had ever told me that I had
the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think
that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon. In fact,
during the year I was born and for a few years after, there wasn’t
anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel
Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least.
I was out on the road when I received
this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly
process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great
literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist.
The thought that he was writing literature couldn’t have entered his
head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read.
When he was writing Hamlet, I’m sure he was thinking about a lot of
different things: “Who’re the right actors for these roles?” “How should
this be staged?” “Do I really want to set this in Denmark?” His
creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his
mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal
with. “Is the financing in place?” “Are there enough good seats for my
patrons?” “Where am I going to get a human skull?” I would bet that the
farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question “Is this
literature?”
When I started writing songs as a
teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities,
my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I thought they could
be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places like Carnegie
Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big, maybe I could
imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio.
That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing
your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and
that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.
Well, I’ve been doing what I set out to
do for a long time, now. I’ve made dozens of records and played
thousands of concerts all around the world. But it’s my songs that are
at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found
a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures
and I’m grateful for that.
But there’s one thing I must say. As a
performer I’ve played for 50,000 people and I’ve played for 50 people
and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people. 50,000
people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has an
individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can
perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the
depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so
small is not lost on me.
But, like Shakespeare, I too am often
occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all
aspects of life’s mundane matters. “Who are the best musicians for these
songs?” “Am I recording in the right studio?” “Is this song in the
right key?” Some things never change, even in 400 years.
Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, “Are my songs literature?”
So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both
for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately,
for providing such a wonderful answer.
My best wishes to you all,
Bob Dylan
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