Die Nobelpreis-Vorlesung

In his speech at the Nobel Prize for Literature ceremony, Bob Dylan provides a comprehensive insight into his literary influences and the origins of his songwriting for the first time. Where do the mythological references in his lyrics come from, and where do the almost biblical parables originate? Which books have shaped his outlook on life? And where did he learn the specific expressions, jargons, tricks, and techniques? In addition to the formative influence of Buddy Holly and the country, blues, and folk music of the late 1950s and early 1960s, characterized by its unique dialect lyrics, a variety of literary motifs flow into his texts: the biblical symbolism in Moby Dick, the starkness of a war novel like All Quiet on the Western Front, but above all, the motif of the journey from the Odyssey as a universal human condition.