Writing - Get over yourselves and celebrate #bobdylan
Hardly is the ink dry on the Literature prize awarded to Bob Dylan than the naysayers are leaping out of the woodwork.
[image error]Bob Dylan
Why is it that some people fail to derive any pleasure from the success achieved by another?
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Natalie Kon-Yu, is vitriolic in the Guardian this morning. She is taking the feminist position on Dylan;s success. I quote,
Giving the award to any white male writer, no matter what form he writes in, is in no way innovative or inspired. It is simply a return to the status quo – albeit in a different genre.
Another author stated that if Dylan had won the award he would take up basketball all I can say is watch the double dribble!
The problem for Ms Natalie Kon-Yu and others is that they are so focused on their own position that to be vaulted over by someone they don't perceive to have the right is too be pushed backwards in their quest for success as they measure it.
I am of the babyboomer generation, just a little younger than Dylan, but I do not consider myself sexist unlike many of my contemporaries. However, in the realm of awards, and I include the Oscars, surely it depends upon the talent that is out there at the time. Isn't cornering awards for the ethnic minorities or women to even up the perceived 'imbalance' tantamount to adding an unfair parameter in their being judged?
It is true that some organisations have been slow to catch up in the equality stakes. In the film industry it isn't just the people who give out the awards but the film makers themselves who need to change. Similarly the very conservative narrow minded panel at Nobel, that has judged Dylan worthy, have thought outside the box, but the pathetic criticisms of their decision is likely to drive them to take a backward step next year.
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To those who have rather pathetically threatened to take up the guitar as a result of Dylan's success are in danger of losing to the man on two counts instead of just the one!
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I leave this news with a quote from the Wall Street Journal,
The Nobel Prize in Literature confirms his status as something more than a songwriter of a kind with those who preceded him. For those who follow him closely, savouring his witticisms, poignant observations and the unexpected word at precisely the right time, the acknowledgement is long overdue, with all respect to Messrs. Murakami, Roth, Sondheim and others. Sentence by sentence and verse by verse, Mr. Dylan’s body of work is worthy of maximum celebration.—Mr. Fusilli is the Journal’s rock and pop music critic.
Returning to my own limited literary efforts my latest novel is with the online publisher and I am waiting for the proof copies to be combed through by my friendly proof readers. They are friends and so do the work simply for a copy of the finished article. You could say that they fight shy of wanting double pay!I have never won an award but have been nominated! It isn't something that I desire but recognition is important to a writer. However, there is only one Literary award or Man/Booker prize and we who write spend time producing copious amounts of work - too much to be scrutinised. I know that I'm repeating a mantra I have trotted out many times before but surely we write because that is our art. If we are successful great! However, we don't stop writing.God Bless
[image error]Bob Dylan
Why is it that some people fail to derive any pleasure from the success achieved by another?
[image error]
Natalie Kon-Yu, is vitriolic in the Guardian this morning. She is taking the feminist position on Dylan;s success. I quote,
Giving the award to any white male writer, no matter what form he writes in, is in no way innovative or inspired. It is simply a return to the status quo – albeit in a different genre.
Another author stated that if Dylan had won the award he would take up basketball all I can say is watch the double dribble!
The problem for Ms Natalie Kon-Yu and others is that they are so focused on their own position that to be vaulted over by someone they don't perceive to have the right is too be pushed backwards in their quest for success as they measure it.
I am of the babyboomer generation, just a little younger than Dylan, but I do not consider myself sexist unlike many of my contemporaries. However, in the realm of awards, and I include the Oscars, surely it depends upon the talent that is out there at the time. Isn't cornering awards for the ethnic minorities or women to even up the perceived 'imbalance' tantamount to adding an unfair parameter in their being judged?
It is true that some organisations have been slow to catch up in the equality stakes. In the film industry it isn't just the people who give out the awards but the film makers themselves who need to change. Similarly the very conservative narrow minded panel at Nobel, that has judged Dylan worthy, have thought outside the box, but the pathetic criticisms of their decision is likely to drive them to take a backward step next year.
[image error]
To those who have rather pathetically threatened to take up the guitar as a result of Dylan's success are in danger of losing to the man on two counts instead of just the one!
[image error]
I leave this news with a quote from the Wall Street Journal,
The Nobel Prize in Literature confirms his status as something more than a songwriter of a kind with those who preceded him. For those who follow him closely, savouring his witticisms, poignant observations and the unexpected word at precisely the right time, the acknowledgement is long overdue, with all respect to Messrs. Murakami, Roth, Sondheim and others. Sentence by sentence and verse by verse, Mr. Dylan’s body of work is worthy of maximum celebration.—Mr. Fusilli is the Journal’s rock and pop music critic.
Returning to my own limited literary efforts my latest novel is with the online publisher and I am waiting for the proof copies to be combed through by my friendly proof readers. They are friends and so do the work simply for a copy of the finished article. You could say that they fight shy of wanting double pay!I have never won an award but have been nominated! It isn't something that I desire but recognition is important to a writer. However, there is only one Literary award or Man/Booker prize and we who write spend time producing copious amounts of work - too much to be scrutinised. I know that I'm repeating a mantra I have trotted out many times before but surely we write because that is our art. If we are successful great! However, we don't stop writing.God Bless
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