STOCKHOLM (AP) – There’s no question about Bob Dylan’s genius as a songwriter or his profound impact on popular culture in America and beyond.
But not everyone thinks he deserves a Nobel Prize for literature, an honor normally bestowed on novelists, poets and playwrights, often far away from the mainstream.
The Swedish Academy’s surprise choice Thursday thrilled some and disappointed others, who felt giving the award to Dylan made a mockery of the prestigious Nobel Prizes.
“If you’re a ‘music’ fan, look it up in the dictionary. Then ‘literature.’ Then compare and contrast,” Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh said in a Twitter outburst.
Welsh, the author of “Trainspotting,” said although he’s a Dylan fan, he found the prize this year an “ill-conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies.”