Purity At All Costs

Bob Dylan has once again been nominated for the Nobel Prize. I'd love to see Dylan get the Nobel Prize for literature. There can be no doubt that his songs are more widely recognized than some of the recent winners like John Maxwell Coetzee (2003) or Imre Kertesz (2002) or any number of recent winners. And there's no getting around the fact that his songs have as much influence on society as other writers who have won the Nobel. The difference between Dylan and say, the 1998 winner, Jose Saramaga, is in presentation only.
But for some, songwriting is not good enough for the Nobel.

Still, most Nobel watchers say it's unlikely the Swedish Academy — traditionally drawn to novelists and poets who are often out of the mainstream — will expand the scope of the prize to include songwriters.
"If so, it would be in a fit of marvelous free-mindedness," said Svante Weyler, head of one of Sweden's largest publishing houses, Norstedts. "It would be very surprising."
But Weyler said he was skeptical about including songwriters.
"Then you're categorizing everything that includes words as literature," he said. "Literature should not have to be read by the author for it to be good."

Obviously Weyler has never heard Dylan sing.
It is not Dylan voice that makes his songs "good." The songs stand by themselves as literature. Poetry. Meaningful, likable poetry.
Good Luck Mr. Zimmerman.
You can't sing a lick, but you writing is worthy of a Nobel prize.