I have never considered the songs I write to be literature

Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to members of the Swedish Academy and other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.

I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honoured to be receiving such a prestigious prize.

Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming.

From an early age, I’ve been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway and others.

These giants of literature whose works are taught in school, housed in libraries and spoken of in reverent tones have made a deep impression.

That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.

I don’t know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honour for themselves, but I suppose anyone writing a book, a poem or a play anywhere in the world might harbour that secret dream.

It’s probably buried so deep that they don’t even know it’s there.

If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon.

LITERATURE
In fact, during the year, I was born and for a few years after, there wasn’t anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel Prize.

So, I recognise that I am in very rare company.

I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to process it.

I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure.

I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist.

The thought that he was writing literature couldn’t have entered his head.

His words were written for the stage; meant to be spoken not read.

When he was writing Hamlet, I’m sure he was thinking about a lot of things: “Who’re the right actors for these roles?”

“How should this be staged?” “Do I really want to set this in Denmark?”

His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with.

“Is the financing in place?” “Are there enough good seats for my patrons?”

“Where am I going to get a human skull?”

I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question “Is this literature?”

DISCRETENESS
When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far.

I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium.

If I was really dreaming big, maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio.

That was really the big prize in my mind.

Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.

Well, I’ve been doing what I set out to do.

I’ve made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts.

But it’s my songs that are at the vital centre of almost everything I do.

They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I’m grateful for that.

But there’s one thing I must say. As a performer, I’ve played for 50,000 people and I’ve played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people.

50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50.

Every person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves.

They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your talent is tried.

THANK YOU

The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on me.

But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavours and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters.

“Who are the best musicians for these songs?” “Am I recording in the right studio?”

“Is this song in the right key?” Some things never change, even in 400 years.

Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, “Are my songs literature?”

So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.

Bob Dylan’s speech was read by the US Ambassador to Sweden, Ms Azita Raji