Foto: Wikimedia Commons
Bona tarda a tothom. Adreço una salutació ben càlida als membres de l’Acadèmia Sueca i a tots els distingits convidats presents aquesta nit.
Ho sento, no puc estar amb vosaltres en persona, però sisplau sapigueu que hi sóc definitivament en esperit, i que em sento molt honrat d’estar rebent un premi tan prestigiós. Ser guardonat amb el premi Nobel de literatura és una cosa que mai podria haver imaginat o vist venir. Des de molt petit he llegit i fet meves les obres d’escriptors que van ser dignes d’aquesta distinció: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. Aquests gegants de la literatura que s’ensenyen a les aules, s’allotgen a les biblioteques de tot el món i se’n parla en un to reverent sempre m’han causat una impressió profunda. Unir-me ara a una llista amb aquests noms és una cosa per a la qual no tinc paraules.
No sé si aquests homes i dones alguna vegada van aspirar a rebre el Nobel, però suposo que qualsevol persona del món que escriu un llibre o un poema o una obra de teatre pot albergar aquest somni secret molt endins. Probablement enterrat en un lloc tan profund que ni tan sols saben que hi és.
Si mai algú m’hagués dit que tenia una mínima opció de guanyar el premi Nobel, jo hauria pensat que tenia les mateixes possibilitats de guanyar-lo que de trepitjar la lluna. De fet, durant l’any en què vaig néixer i fins tres anys després, no hi va haver ningú al món que es considerés prou bo per guanyar aquest premi.
Jo estava de gira quan vaig rebre una notícia tan sorprenent, i vaig trigar uns quants minuts a processar-la. Vaig pensar en William Shakespeare, la gran figura literària. Crec que ell es veia a si mateix com a dramaturg. La idea que estava escrivint literatura no li devia entrar al cap. Les seves paraules van ser escrites per a l’escena. Estaven dstinades a ser dites, no pas llegides. Quan escrivia Hamlet, estic segur que pensava coses com ara: “Qui seran els actors adequats per a aquests papers?” “Com hauria de ser l’escenografia?” “Realment vull que passi a Dinamarca?” La seva visió i ambició creativa eren indubtables, però també tenia assumptes més mundans a considerar i tractar. “Tenim prou finançament?” “Hi ha bons seients per als meus patrocinadors?” “On podrem aconseguir un crani humà?” Crec que la cosa més llunyana de la ment de Shakespeare era la pregunta: “És això literatura?”
Quan vaig començar a escriure cançons d’adolescent, i fins i tot quan vaig començar a aconseguir cert renom, les meves aspiracions per a les cançons que feia no anaven gaire enllà. Vaig pensar que podien ser escoltades a les cafeteries o bars, potser més tard a llocs com el Carnegie Hall o el London Palladium. Si realment em posava a somiar molt, potser podia imaginar que arribaria a fer-ne un disc i que les meves cançons s’escoltarien a la ràdio. Aquest era realment el gran premi, per a mi. Fer discos i sonar a la ràdio significava arribar a una gran audiència i poder seguir fent el que m’havia proposat fer.
Bé, he estat fent durant molt temps el que em vaig proposar fer. He fet dotzenes de discos i he fet milers de concerts a tot el món. Però són les meves cançons les que estan al centre vital de gairebé tot el que faig. Sembla que han trobat un lloc en la vida de moltes persones de moltes cultures diferents, i estic molt agraït per això.
Però hi ha una cosa que he de dir. Com a intèrpret he actuat per a 50.000 persones i he actuat per a 50 persones, i puc dir que és més difícil cantar per a 50 persones. Cinquanta mil persones tenen una personalitat única; però cinquanta, no. Cada persona té una identitat a part, un món en si mateixa. Poden percebre les coses amb més claredat. Posen a prova la teva honestedat i la profunditat del teu talent. Que el comitè del Nobel estigui format per poca gent és una dada que no se m’escapa.
Però, com Shakespeare, jo també estic ocupat sovint en els meus esforços creatius i en els aspectes mundans de la vida. “Quins són els millors músics per a aquestes cançons?” “Estic gravant a l’estudi correcte?” “Té aquesta cançó el to que ha de tenir?” Hi ha coses que no canvien ni en 400 anys.
Ni un sol cop he tingut temps per preguntar-me: “Les meves cançons són literatura?”
Així que dono les gràcies a l’Acadèmia Sueca per haver trobar el temps per plantejar-se aquesta pregunta, i, en segon lloc, per haver-hi donat una resposta tan meravellosa.
Els meus millors desitjos per a tots,
Bob Dylan
Versió original del discurs:
Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.
I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming. From an early age, I’ve been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.
I don’t know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It’s probably buried so deep that they don’t even know it’s there.
If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few years after, there wasn’t anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least.
I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn’t have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, I’m sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: “Who’re the right actors for these roles?” “How should this be staged?” “Do I really want to set this in Denmark?” His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. “Is the financing in place?” “Are there enough good seats for my patrons?” “Where am I going to get a human skull?” I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question “Is this literature?”
When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big, maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio. That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.
Well, I’ve been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I’ve made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it’s my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I’m grateful for that.
But there’s one thing I must say. As a performer I’ve played for 50,000 people and I’ve played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on me.
But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters. “Who are the best musicians for these songs?” “Am I recording in the right studio?” “Is this song in the right key?” Some things never change, even in 400 years.
Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, “Are my songs literature?”
So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.
My best wishes to you all,
Bob Dylan
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