Plot Twist and Shout (Feat. Storyscape) | Read Awakening

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[laptopgirl]

Let’s be honest, the artist most deserving of a noble prize for literature is Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic

[MsJeanneMarie]

I like this host and this show! More of this!!

[marquisbullock]

That Toni Morrison flow was FIYAAAH 🔥🔥🔥 Interesting video!

[UltimateKyuubiFox]

The only tangible requirement for Literature is that it has been published as text. All of Bob Dylan’s work had been compiled into published books as poetry in and of themselves, and taking his cultural influence into account, the argument was made that his ‘poetry’ as such WAS in conversation with literary predecessors. His song All Along the Watchtower has been discussed for decades, and his songs have utilized many literary techniques to comment on deeper sociopolitical themes which have led to his works being viewed with the sense that he was actively trying to write in that vein.

I could easily argue Billie Holiday as another candidate. The song Strange Fruit, in particular, has sent reverberations throughout generations since its release.

If a theatre play can be Literature, and that’s meant to be performed live on a stage, I fail to see how lyrical music should be stripped of its value. Especially considering the earliest works in the Literary Canon were epic poems, often sung. It feels odd to me to strip writing of merit due to its original method of distribution, especially if Shakespeare gets a pass. He was the Enlightenment Period equivalent of a film director/screenwriter, who occasionally acted in his own work. It just wasn’t filmed. Yet no one would argue Shakespeare “doesn’t belong”.

The question I have for anyone skeptical is this: At what point is a writer not a writer?

The answer is quite simple.

[jonahdunch]

I'm surprised Kendrick Lamar's Pulitzer win wasn't discussed in this. This is a clear example of arguable canon-definers/gatekeepers bestowing literary-ness on hip hop, arguing that Damn's literary merit stands alone, irrespective of its musical qualities. To me, this underscores a distinction to be made between two criteria the theorist in the video cites: (a) the literary world's decision to count some work as literature and (b) some work being in conversation with the existing literary canon/world. Damn evidently satisfies the former but perhaps not the latter. Are these then both sufficient but neither necessary? Or should we conclude that both are necessary, and thus Damn is not literature despite its recognition as such by some literary authorities? Really, what counts as some work "being accepted" as literature by the literary world? What threshold of critics, readers, writers, academics, etc. have to recognize something as literature in order for it to count?
These sorts of complications with a political definition of literature like this makes me want to return to the idea that literature has some sort of stronger ontology (i.e. there is some way to define literature that doesn't rest on social convention). (Although these complications don't necessarily defeat the idea.) Surely those critics and canon-makers (at least think they) have reasons for and against accepting some given work as literature or not other than arbitrary convention.

[rendjo]

This show is not a mistake, it's just a funny accident.

[reid]

I’m skeptical of the real usefulness of the literary canon. We read Shakespeare because certain academics decided his works speak to universal human nature, but is there a chance that we only accept Shakespeare as speaking to universal values because he was a white British dude and most of the people who established literary canon were also white British dudes? Literature is always changing, and I welcome more types of art being classified as literature.

[brittanyalways]

The idea of Dylan winning a literature award seems too far, but I like the idea of the intersection between music and literature. I've always been drawn to music that I felt told a story, and definitely see how the two mediums can overlap.

[KnaveMurdok]

Okay, MAYBE it's just because I went to school in good ol "Liberal California", but it all my literature classes, the concept was very much stressed that if you wrote it down, it was literature. A novel is literature, a poem is literature, a play is literature, song lyrics are literature, fuck, even an instruction manual is literature. i know that's kinda Dada-ist, but i can't find a good reason, or any kind of solid argument against it.
Maybe literature awards shouldn't go to the person who wrote the best instruction manual, but you see what I'm getting at, yeah?

[nineball]

Dominique - you claim a musician won a literary award while asking "What are the standards song must achieve to be considered a great piece of literature?" With all due respect Dominique, the Nobel Prize committee saw Dylan's work from a different perspective.
"Prize motivation: "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
(Source: nobelprize.org)

Alfred Nobel will left one fifth of his estate to:
"... to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". An important part of the prize is recognition for a collection or body of work, not just "a song" or some similar Grammy category. Moreover it is not a prize for 'books'.

To answer another of your questions, the Nobel Prize committee defines what literature is for their own award and not the author, editor etc.

So is Bob Dylan a poet who writes music or a musician who writes poetry (and much more)? To me and the the Nobel Prize committee he is both.

Greg Tate's concept of "paraliterature" is tangential does not address your initial reservation about the "connection between books and music".

[victoriaappiagei]

awesome Cool music good hip-hop real book hip-hop history Good music spoke word

[burstofsanity]

For a video about music and literature 1:00 - ??? was far too painful for me to continue. Lack of a pop filter and general very poor audio quality along with the video constantly refocusing was too much.

[ZoraAisling]

What is the difference between poetry that is spoken aloud and poetry that is sung? To say songs aren't poetry makes me think you are saying that because a lot of songs are pretty vapid, but also a lot of poetry is vapid.

[tecpaocelotl]

Thumb up, but I skip the singing crap. Wasn't hip hop nor rap.

[willemvandebeek]

they give Nobel prices to anyone these days... it has lost its integrity :-/