Five days after Bob Dylan became the first musician ever to get the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Nobel Prize committee has given up trying to contact the singer regarding the prize. While it was announced on Thursday, the singer is yet to acknowledge it. Incidentally, a day after the announcement of the prize, on Friday, Dylan performed at Coachella, as part of the Desert Trip festival. The Rolling Stones commended him and his win, expressing happiness at sharing the stage with a Nobel Laureate.
“I want to thank Bob Dylan for an amazing set,” Mick Jagger, a member of the Rolling Stones said, “We have never shared the stage with a Nobel Prize winner before. Bob is like our own Walt Whitman.”
Keith Richards, also a member of the band, said, “I can’t think of anybody that deserved it better.”
However, Dylan did not mention or acknowledge the fact that he won the prize.
Sara Danius, the permanent secretary of the academy, said, “Right now we are doing nothing. I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough.”
Bob Dylan has a history of being erratic around prizes. Receiving the 1963 Tom Paine award for civil rights, he fumbled and even said that he sympthaised with President John F. Kennedy’s killers, although he issued an apology later. He skipped subsequent award ceremonies where he won accolades.
Even when President of the United States Barack Obama invited him to play for the Black History Month, he reluctantly agreed and walked off after the performance.
Obama recalled in an earlier interview, “Here’s what I love about Dylan: He was exactly as you’d expect he would be. He wouldn’t come to the rehearsal; usually, all these guys are practising before the set in the evening. He didn’t want to take a picture with me; usually, all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn’t show up to that…Finishes the song, steps off the stage - I’m sitting right in the front row - comes up, shakes my hand, sort of tips his head, gives me just a little grin, and then leaves. And that was it - then he left. That was our only interaction with him. And I thought: That’s how you want Bob Dylan, right? You don’t want him to be all cheesin’ and grinnin’ with you. You want him to be a little sceptical about the whole enterprise.”
“If he doesn’t want to come, he won’t come,” said Ms Danius. “It will be a big party in any case and the honour belongs to him.
“I want to thank Bob Dylan for an amazing set,” Mick Jagger, a member of the Rolling Stones said, “We have never shared the stage with a Nobel Prize winner before. Bob is like our own Walt Whitman.”
Keith Richards, also a member of the band, said, “I can’t think of anybody that deserved it better.”
However, Dylan did not mention or acknowledge the fact that he won the prize.
Sara Danius, the permanent secretary of the academy, said, “Right now we are doing nothing. I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough.”
Bob Dylan has a history of being erratic around prizes. Receiving the 1963 Tom Paine award for civil rights, he fumbled and even said that he sympthaised with President John F. Kennedy’s killers, although he issued an apology later. He skipped subsequent award ceremonies where he won accolades.
Even when President of the United States Barack Obama invited him to play for the Black History Month, he reluctantly agreed and walked off after the performance.
Obama recalled in an earlier interview, “Here’s what I love about Dylan: He was exactly as you’d expect he would be. He wouldn’t come to the rehearsal; usually, all these guys are practising before the set in the evening. He didn’t want to take a picture with me; usually, all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn’t show up to that…Finishes the song, steps off the stage - I’m sitting right in the front row - comes up, shakes my hand, sort of tips his head, gives me just a little grin, and then leaves. And that was it - then he left. That was our only interaction with him. And I thought: That’s how you want Bob Dylan, right? You don’t want him to be all cheesin’ and grinnin’ with you. You want him to be a little sceptical about the whole enterprise.”
“If he doesn’t want to come, he won’t come,” said Ms Danius. “It will be a big party in any case and the honour belongs to him.