The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob "for having created new

poetic expressions within the great American song tradition"

Half a century ago, Bob Dylan shocked the music world by plugging in an electric guitar
and alienating folk purists. For decades he continued to confound expectations, selling
millions of records with dense, enigmatic songwriting.

Now, Mr. Dylan, the poet laureate of the rock era, has been rewarded with the Nobel
Prize in Literature, an honor that elevates him into the company of T. S. Eliot, Gabriel
Garca Mrquez, Toni Morrison and Samuel Beckett.

Mr. Dylan, 75, is the first musician to win the award, and his selection on Thursday is
perhaps the most radical choice in a history stretching back to 1901. In choosing a
popular musician for the literary worlds highest honor, the Swedish Academy, which
awards the prize, dramatically redefined the boundaries of literature, setting off a
debate about whether song lyrics have the same artistic value as poetry or novels.

Some prominent writers celebrated Mr. Dylans literary achievements, including

Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates and Salman Rushdie, who called Mr. Dylan the brilliant
inheritor of the bardic tradition, adding, Great choice.

But others called the academys decision misguided and questioned whether
songwriting, however brilliant, rises to the level of literature.

Jodi Picoult, a best-selling novelist, snarkily asked, Im happy for Bob Dylan,
#ButDoesThisMeanICanWinAGrammy?

Mr. Dylan has often sprinkled literary allusions into his music and cited the influence of
poetry on his lyrics, and has referenced Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine and Ezra Pound.
He has also published poetry and prose, including his 1971 collection, Tarantula,
and Chronicles: Volume One, a memoir published in 2004. His collected lyrics from
1961-2012 are due out on Nov. 1 from Simon & Schuster.

Literary scholars have long debated whether Mr. Dylans lyrics can stand on their own
as poetry, and an astonishing volume of academic work has been devoted to parsing his
music. The Oxford Book of American Poetry included his song Desolation Row, in its
2006 edition, and Cambridge University Press released The Cambridge Companion to
Bob Dylan in 2009, further cementing his reputation as a brilliant literary stylist

As Bob Dylan has said, his songs didnt get here by themselves. Heres a sampler of his
influences, from Woody Guthrie to the Kinks, alongside the tracks he made famous.

Mr. Dylan has often sprinkled literary allusions into his music and cited the influence of
poetry on his lyrics, and has referenced Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine and Ezra Pound.
He has also published poetry and prose, including his 1971 collection, Tarantula,
and Chronicles: Volume One, a memoir published in 2004. His collected lyrics from
1961-2012 are due out on Nov. 1 from Simon & Schuster.
Literary scholars have long debated whether Mr. Dylans lyrics can stand on their own
as poetry, and an astonishing volume of academic work has been devoted to parsing his
music. The Oxford Book of American Poetry included his song Desolation Row, in its
2006 edition, and Cambridge University Press released The Cambridge Companion to
Bob Dylan in 2009, further cementing his reputation as a brilliant literary stylist.

Most song lyrics dont really hold up without the music, and they arent supposed to,
Mr. Collins said in an interview. Bob Dylan is in the 2 percent club of songwriters whose
lyrics are interesting on the page even without the harmonica and the guitar and his very
distinctive voice. I think he does qualify as poetry.

Its literature, but its music, its performance, its art, its also highly commercial,
said David Hajdu, a music critic for
The Nation who has written
extensively about Mr. Dylan and
his contemporaries. The old
categories of high and low art,
theyve been collapsing for a long
time, but this is it being made
official.
In previous years, writers and
publishers have grumbled that the
prize often goes to obscure writers
with clear political messages over
more popular figures. But in
choosing someone so well known,
and so far outside of established
literary traditions, the academy
seems to have swung far into the
other direction, bestowing
prestige on a popular artist who
already had plenty of it.

The academy added: Dylan has

the status of an icon. His influence
on contemporary music is
profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature.

Mr. Dylans many honors include Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards. He
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, won a special Pulitzer Prize in
2008 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

What do you think about this discursion?