Why Dylan Matters

A GUARDIAN AND INDEPENDENT BEST MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n At last an expert classicist gets to grips with Bob Dylan Mary Beard\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n Thomass elegant, charming book offers something for everyone - not just the super-fans Independent\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n When the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan, the literary world was up in arms. How could the worlds most prestigious book prize be awarded to a famously cantankerous singer-songwriter in his Seventies, who wouldnt even deign to make an acceptance speech?\r\n\r\n\r\n In Why Dylan Matters, Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas answers that question with magisterial erudition. A world expert on Classical poetry, Thomas was initially ridiculed by his colleagues for teaching a course on Bob Dylan alongside his traditional seminars on Homer, Virgil and Ovid. Dylans Nobel prize win brought him vindication. This witty, personal volume is a distillation of Thomass famous course, and makes a compelling case for moving Dylan out of the rock n roll Hall of Fame and into the pantheon of Classical poets. Youll never think about Bob Dylan in the same way again.