Description

Bob Dylans ways with words are a wonder, matched as they are with his music and verified by those voices of his. In response to the whole range of Dylan early and late (his songs of social conscience, of earthly love, of divine love, and of contemplation), this critical appreciation listens to Dylans attentive genius, alive in the very words and their rewards.

Fools they made a mock of sin. Dylans is an art in which sins are laid bare (and resisted), virtues are valued (and manifested), and the graces brought home. The seven deadly sins, the four cardinal virtues (harder to remember?), and the three heavenly graces: these make up everybodys world but Dylans in particular. Or rather, his worlds, since human dealings of every kind are his for the artistic seizing. Pride is anatomized in Like a Rolling Stone, Envy in Positively 4th Street, Anger in Only a Pawn in Their Game But, hearteningly, Justice reclaims Hattie Carroll, Fortitude Blowin in the Wind, Faith Precious Angel, Hope Forever Young, and Charity Watered-Down Love.

In The New Yorker, Alex Ross wrote that Rickss writing on Dylan is the best there is. Unlike most rock critics forty-year-olds talking to ten-year-olds, Dylan has called them he writes for adults. In the Times (London), Bryan Appleyard maintained that Ricks, one of the most distinguished literary critics of our time, is almost the only writer to have applied serious literary intelligence to Dylan

Dylans countless listeners (and even the artist himself, who knows?) may agree with W.H. Auden that Ricks is exactly the kind of critic every poet dreams of finding.

Author: Christopher Ricks
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 07/26/2005
Pages: 528
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.36w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780060599249
Language: English