21st-Century Dylan

Bob Dylan has constantly reinvented the persona known as “Bob Dylan,” renewing the performance possibilities inherent in his songs, from acoustic folk, to electric rock and a late, hybrid style which even hints at so-called world music and Latin American tones. Then in 2016, his achievements outside of performance – as a songwriter – were acknowledged when he was awarded the Nobel Literature Prize. Dylan has never ceased to broaden the range of his creative identity, taking in painting, film, acting and prose writing, as well as advertising and even own-brand commercial production. The book highlights how Dylan has brought his persona(e) to different art forms and cultural arenas, and how they in turn have also created these personae. This volume consists of multidisciplinary essays written by cultural historians, musicologists, literary academics and film experts, including contributions by critics Christopher Ricks and Nina Goss. Together, the essays reveal Dylan’s continuing artistic development and self-fashioning, as well as the making of a certain legitimized Dylan through critical and public recognition in the new millennium. This volume seeks to reflect the range of Bob Dylan’s multiple activities, the ‘late style’ of his creativity and his personae in all their later variety, from the Time Out of Mind album (1997) up to the release in March 2020 of ‘Murder Most Foul’. Bob Dylan (born 1941) is perhaps best-known as a singer and songwriter whose major impact occurred several decades ago. His achievements as a songwriter and master of language were – provocatively? – acknowledged when he was awarded the 2016 Nobel Literature Prize. However, Dylan has never ceased to broaden the range of his creative identity, especially through intermediality, taking in painting, film, acting, radio-presenting and prose writing, as well as advertising and even own-brand commercial production, either reinforcing or calling into question his perceived authenticity. The book highlights how Dylan has brought his persona(e) to different art forms and cultural arenas, and how they in turn have also created these personae. Chronicles, Volume One, his autobiography, charts his beginnings as a folk singer and the later recording of the Oh Mercy album. In terms of his identity as a visual artist, while Dylan’s Revisionist Art exhibition focused on his reworkings of magazine covers, the Brazil Series paintings show him extending his visual creativity to cultural spaces beyond the United States. Dylan has constantly reinvented the persona known as ‘Bob Dylan’.