Dylan’s Nobel No-Show
To the surprise of pretty much no one, Bob Dylan won’t be traveling to Stockholm to pick up his 2016 Nobel Prize for literature at the Dec. 10 prize ceremony. His prize comes with a cash bonus of 8 million Swedish kronor, roughly $900,000. According to the Associated Press, Dylan told the Swedish Academy, “he wishes he could receive the prize personally, but other commitments make it unfortunately impossible.” The 75-year-old Dylan was awarded the prestigious prize on Oct. 13 “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” The literature prize and five other Nobel Prizes will be officially conferred upon winners in Stockholm next month on the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
The Academy says it “respects Bob Dylan’s decision,” adding that not picking up the Nobel was “unusual, but not exceptional.” As a matter of fact, Dylan’s absence is not exactly precedent-setting — in 2004, Austrian playwright and novelist Elfriede Jelinek skipped the ceremony, citing a social phobia. “The award is still theirs, as it now belongs to Bob Dylan,” the Academy said. “We are looking forward to Bob Dylan’s Nobel lecture, which he must hold, according to the requirements, within six months” from Dec. 10.
