ePaper_2nd Edition_October 19, 2016

16
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016
DT
Feature
No, Bob Dylan isn’t the fi r s t lyricist
to win the Nobel
• Alex Lubet
The Nobel organisation’s
downplaying of Tagore’s
significance as a musician is part
of the same thinking that has long
delayed Dylan’s receiving the
prize.
There’s been a great deal
of excitement over Bob Dylan
winning the 2016 Nobel Prize
for Literature. It’s rare for artists
who have achieved widespread,
mainstream popularity to win.
And although Nobels often go to
Americans, the last literature prize
to go to one was Toni Morrison
in 1993. Furthermore, according
to the New York Times, “It is the
first time the honor has gone to a
musician.”
But as Bob Dylan might croon,
“the times they are mistaken.”
A Bengali literary giant who
probably wrote even more songs
preceded Dylan’s win by over a
century. Rabindranath Tagore,
a wildly talented Indian poet,
painter and musician, took the
prize in 1913.
The first musician (and first
non-European) to win the Nobel
Prize for Literature, Tagore
possessed an artistry – and lasting
influence – that mirrored Dylan’s.
Bengal’s own
renaissance man
Tagore was born in 1861 into a
wealthy family and was a lifelong
resident of Bengal, the East Indian
state whose capital is Kolkata
(formerly Calcutta). Born before
the invention of film, Tagore
was a keen observer of India’s
emergence into the modern age;
much of his work was influenced
by new media and other cultures.
Like Dylan, Tagore was largely
self-taught. And both were
associated with nonviolent social
change. Tagore was a supporter
of Indian independence and
a friend of Mahatma Gandhi,
while Dylan penned much of
the soundtrack of the American
civil rights movement. Each was
a multitalented artist: writer,
musician, visual artist and
film composer (Dylan is also a
filmmaker).
The Nobel website states that
Tagore, though he wrote in many
genres, was principally a poet
who published more than 50
volumes of verse, as well as plays,
short stories and novels. Tagore’s
music isn’t mentioned until the
last sentence, which says that the
artist “also left … songs for which
he wrote the music himself,” as if
this much-loved body of work was
no more than an afterthought.
But with over 2,000 songs
to his name, Tagore’s output
of music alone is extremely
impressive. Many continue to be
used in films, while three of his
songs were chosen as national
anthems by India, Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka, an unparalleled
achievement.
Today, Tagore’s significance
as a songwriter is undisputed.
A YouTube search for Tagore’s
songs, using the search term
“Rabindra Sangeet” (Bengali for
“Tagore songs”), yields about
234,000 hits.
Although Tagore was – and
remains – a musical icon in India,
this aspect of his work hasn’t been
recognised in the West. Perhaps
for this reason, music seems not
to have had much or any influence
on the 1913 Nobel committee, as
judged by the presentation speech
by committee chair Harald Hjärne.
In fact, the word “music” is never
used in the prize announcement.
It is notable, however, that Hjärne
says the work of Tagore’s that
“especially arrested the attention
of the selecting critics is the 1912
poetry collection Gitanjali: Song
Offerings.”
Like Dylan, Tagore was largely self-taught.
And both were associated with nonviolent
social change
Dylan: All about the
songs
It may be that the Nobel
organisation’s downplaying of
Tagore’s significance as a musician
is part and parcel of the same
thinking that has long delayed
Dylan’s receiving the prize:
uneasiness over subsuming song
into the category of literature.
It’s rumored that Dylan was
first nominated in 1996. If true,
it means that Nobel committees
have been wrestling with the idea
of honoring this extraordinary
lyricist for two decades. Rolling
Stone called Dylan’s win “easily
the most controversial award
since they gave it to the guy who
wrote Lord of the Flies, which was
controversial only because it came
next after the immensely popular
1982 prize for Gabriel García
Márquez.”
Unlike Tagore’s Nobel
announcement, in which his
songs were an afterthought, the
presentation announcing Dylan’s
award made it clear that aside
from a handful of other literary
contributions this prize is all about
his music. And therein lies the
controversy, with some saying he
shouldn’t have won – that being a
pop culture icon who wrote songs
disqualifies him.
But like many great literary
figures, Dylan is a man of letters;
his songs abound with the names
of those who came before him,
whether it’s Ezra Pound and T.S.
Eliot in “Desolation Row” or James
Joyce in “I Feel a Change Comin’
On.”
Why not celebrate Bob by being
like Bob and reading something
unfamiliar, great and historically
important? Tagore’s Gitanjali,
his most famous collection of
poems, is available in the poet’s
own English translation, with an
introduction by William Butler
Yeats (who won his own Nobel in
literature in 1923). And YouTube
is a great repository for some of
Tagore’s most celebrated songs
(search for “Rabindra Sangeet”).
Many music lovers have long
hoped that the parameters of
literature might be writ a bit larger
to include song. While Dylan’s
win is certainly an affirmation,
remembering that he’s not the
first can only pave the way for
more musicians to win in years to
come. •
Alex Lubet is the Morse
Alumni Distinguished
Teaching Professor of
Music at the University of
Minnesota. This article was
originally published on The
Conversation