Bob Dylan, o Nobel de Literatura

Para quem achou que o Nobel não podia inovar, eis a prova em contrário: Bob Dylan, o compositor norte-americano, famoso nos anos 1960 e 1970 na época da chamada "contracultura", ganhou a láurea. 

Consideraram as letras de suas músicas como obras de arte para a língua inglesa, devido ao seu lirismo poético. Cazuza e Renato Russo, no Brasil, fizeram algo semelhante, mas sem tanto rigor no trato com o idioma (no caso dos dois músicos, o português). 

Eis algumas provas de sua qualidade como poeta, embora ele não tenha publicado livro nenhum: clique AQUI. 

No Youtube também há muito material com os trabalhos do cantor nascido em Minnesota. Eis uma das canções, chamada de Homem de paz, lançado em 1983, quando Dylan mostrava uma certa amargura ao ver seus ideais pacifistas em choque com um mundo repleto de boas intenções que mascaram a maldade; ele também demostra suas convicções religiosas neste poema cantado: 

Man of peace

Look out your window, baby, there's a scene you'd like to catch,

The band is playing "Dixie," a man got his hand outstretched.

Could be the Fuhrer

Could be the local priest.

You know sometimes

Satan comes as a man of peace.

He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue,

He knows every song of love that ever has been sung.

Good intentions can be evil,

Both hands can be full of grease.

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, first he's in the background, then he's in the front,

Both eyes are looking like they're on a rabbit hunt.

Nobody can see through him,

No, not even the Chief of Police.

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he catch you when you're hoping for a glimpse of the sun,

Catch you when your troubles feel like they weigh a ton.

He could be standing next to you,

The person that you'd notice least.

I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he can be fascinating, he can be dull,

He can ride down Niagara Falls in the barrels of your skull.

I can smell something cooking,

I can tell there's going to be a feast.

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

He's a great humanitarian, he's a great philanthropist,

He knows just where to touch you, honey, and how you like to be kissed.

He'll put both his arms around you,

You can feel the tender touch of the beast.

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight, the king snake will crawl,

Trees that've stood for a thousand years suddenly will fall.

Wanna get married? Do it now,

Tomorrow all activity will cease.

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Somewhere Mama's weeping for her blue-eyed boy,

She's holding them little white shoes and that little broken toy

And he's following a star,

The same one them three men followed from the East.

I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Outra canção, mais digna de seu talento, foi feita no auge, em 1965. É a famosa Like a Rolling Stone, gravada por vários outros cantores, como Jimmy Hendrix e os imortais Rolling Stones: 

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say,
"Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around
to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people
get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse
with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring,
you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags
and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now,
you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Os mais conservadores podem até se escandalizar com a decisão do júri em Estocolmo, chegando até a sugerir que a Academia deveria levar o IgNobel em 2017, não só por premiar cantores de folk music e obscuros escritores de idiomas que ninguém lê, mas por não premiar James Joyce, Lev Tolstói, Jorge Luís Borges ou Júlio Cortázar, entre vários outros escritores. Por outro lado, boa parte da imprensa aprovou, e os fãs do compositor apreciaram muito.

Talvez seja este o motivo do Nobel de Literatura ter demorado tanto, uma semana depois do cronograma: o choque e a surpresa causados pela escolha.