NEW YORK – Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock ‘n roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall.
Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power”. It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favoured classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive.”I am in disbelief,” Dylan fan and fellow Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz (39) said of Dylan’s award.Diaz’s ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’, a tragic, but humorous story of desire, politics and violence among Dominicans at home and in the United States, won the fiction prize.The Pulitzer for drama was given to Tracy Letts’ ‘August: Osage County’, which, like Diaz’s novel, combines comedy and brutality.Letts calls the play “loosely autobiographical”, a bruising family battle spanning several generations of unhappiness and unfulfilled dreams.Former US poet laureate Robert Hass, already a National Book Award winner for ‘Time and Materials’, won the poetry Pulitzer, as did Philip Schultz’s ‘Failure’.Other winners: Daniel Walker Howe, for history, for ‘What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848’; Saul Friedlander, general non-fiction, for ‘The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945’; for biography, John Matteson’s ‘Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father’.”I wrote my book in a way that is generally accessible to the curious literate reader,” Howe said.”And I think that’s very important, and I wish more books were written that way.”Dylan’s victory doesn’t mean that the Pulitzers have forgotten classical composers.The competitive prize for music was given to David Lang’s ‘The Little Match Girl Passion’.Fans, critics and academics have obsessed over Dylan’s lyrics – even digging through his garbage for clues – since the mid-1960s, when anthems as ‘Blowing in the Wind’ made Dylan a poet and prophet for a rebellious generation.His songs include countless biblical references and he has claimed Chekhov, Walt Whitman and Jack Kerouac as influences.Nampa-APIt was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favoured classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive.”I am in disbelief,” Dylan fan and fellow Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz (39) said of Dylan’s award.Diaz’s ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’, a tragic, but humorous story of desire, politics and violence among Dominicans at home and in the United States, won the fiction prize.The Pulitzer for drama was given to Tracy Letts’ ‘August: Osage County’, which, like Diaz’s novel, combines comedy and brutality.Letts calls the play “loosely autobiographical”, a bruising family battle spanning several generations of unhappiness and unfulfilled dreams.Former US poet laureate Robert Hass, already a National Book Award winner for ‘Time and Materials’, won the poetry Pulitzer, as did Philip Schultz’s ‘Failure’.Other winners: Daniel Walker Howe, for history, for ‘What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848’; Saul Friedlander, general non-fiction, for ‘The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945’; for biography, John Matteson’s ‘Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father’.”I wrote my book in a way that is generally accessible to the curious literate reader,” Howe said.”And I think that’s very important, and I wish more books were written that way.”Dylan’s victory doesn’t mean that the Pulitzers have forgotten classical composers.The competitive prize for music was given to David Lang’s ‘The Little Match Girl Passion’.Fans, critics and academics have obsessed over Dylan’s lyrics – even digging through his garbage for clues – since the mid-1960s, when anthems as ‘Blowing in the Wind’ made Dylan a poet and prophet for a rebellious generation.His songs include countless biblical references and he has claimed Chekhov, Walt Whitman and Jack Kerouac as influences.Nampa-AP
