Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize is one of the few good news stories to come out of 2016
He performed at Cornell in 2013
After such a crazy year, to hear some objectively good news is always reassuring. Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first time an American has won the prize since 1993 when Cornell alum Toni Morrison Cornell won it.
While a controversial pick, the permanent secretary of Swedish Academy Sara Danius said: “We’re really giving it to Bob Dylan as a great poet – that’s the reason we awarded him the prize. He’s a great poet in the great English tradition, stretching from Milton and Blake onwards. And he’s a very interesting traditionalist, in a highly original way. Not just the written tradition, but also the oral one; not just high literature, but also low literature.” To be fair, I am sure they picked him for those blonde curls of his.
For Cornellians, he is a bit of an icon as he performed back in 1965 and again in 2013 at Cornell.
Sophomore Jacob Mathai said: “I just think it is the testament to how far American songwriting has come. The fact the entire world can recognize it shows his ability. As far as songwriters go, he is the only who has been able to do that.”
Junior Kristen Lovely added: “What?!?!”
Bob Dylan has a special place in my heart, especially since he wrote about girls from my hometown! Congrats to the great Bob Dylan!