Is Dylan Literature?

[poliphilo]

Lets not be too precious about literature meaning marks on paper. Much of what we call literature started out oral. Homer and Sappho, as the Nobel committee pointed out, would have sung or intoned their work and Homer- the blind minstrel- was almost certainly illiterate. Even today a lot of literature is designed to be performed rather than read. We call the great playwrights literature, we call the Book of Common Prayer literature, we call the Gettysburg Address literature- so why not Dylan?

Comments

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

I have always considered Bob Dylan the Shakespeare of the modern world. He uses words in combinations that no one else ever thought of and paints amazing word pictures.

The only other whom I would consider to be gifted enough to compare to Shakespeare in the way he used language was Robin Williams. He was also an insanely talented wordsmith.