Bob Dylan receives honorary Pulitzer Prize

Apr 07 2008

Today it was announced that rocker Bob Dylan won an honorary Pulitzer Prize. As a longtime Dylan fan, I was very happy to hear this prestigious award bestowed on one of my favorite musicians. Back in September I wrote this post about Dylan and the influence literature had over him and his music.

According to an article from Yahoo! News, Bob Dylan was chosen for this award because of his:

…"profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

I couldn’t agree more and I’m glad Dylan is finally getting the recognition he has always deserved. I remember when I was in high school and at the height of my Dylan-mania. I would print out the lyrics to some of my favorite songs and try to decipher them, or at least find a deeper meaning. Now with the power of the internet, you can do a simple Google search for just about any Bob Dylan song and you can find essays written by everyone from Professors to laymen trying to analyze what Dylan was saying in that particular song. Of course, asking the big man himself never helps because he remains quiet about his songs and generally shuns the media.

Some other winners of the Pulitzer Prize include:

- Junot Diaz won the prize in fiction.
- Tracy Letts won in the drama category.
- Robert Hass won in poetry, as did Philip Schulz.

Check out all the latest Pulitzer Prize news here:
Dylan, Tracy Letts win Pulitzers

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