Times Are A-Changing: Days After Nobel No-Show, Dylan Announces Gigs in Sweden

On April 1 (and that's no April's Fool joke), Nobel laureate Dylan will come to Sweden in spite of all. The Nobel Prize winner in Literature, who did not care to pick up his award in Stockholm, is all set to give two concerts at the Stockholm Waterfront venue on April 1 and 2, followed by a gig at the Sparbanken Arena in the city of Lund on April 9, the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet reported. Dylan visited Sweden latest in 2015.

In its recent announcement, concert organizer Live Nation described the 75-year-old American legend as a "a giant who not only visits Sweden as an acclaimed and beloved artist and songwriter, but also as a recently named Nobel Prize laureate in literature."

Earlier, the veteran minstrel told the Swedish Academy, which distributes the Nobel Prize in literature, that he would not be able to attend the Stockholm Gala due to "schedule conflicts" and "pre-existing commitments."

Instead, fellow American singer-songwriter Patti Smith sang her version of 'A hard rain's a-gonna fall,' whereas US ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji read out a letter of gratitude from Dylan.

Despite the fact that all seems to have ended well, Dylan is still required to give a Nobel lecture within six months of December 10. According to Sara Danius, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Dylan's coming Swedish gigs would be an "excellent opportunity" for the lecture.

So far, however, no date has been set for Dylan's lecture during his stay in Sweden, the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Foundation informed.

It is not entirely uncommon not to receive the Nobel Prize in person. The list of previous Nobel "no-shows" includes Doris Lessing, Harold Pinter and Elfriede Jelinek. Soviet writers Boris Pasternak and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn initially refused the award amid waves of criticism in their home country. Solzhenitsyn later reconsidered upon leaving the Soviet Union, whereas in Pasternak's case the prize was later handed to his son during the Perestroika years, in 1989.

​At present, French philosopher and existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre, who in 1964 declined the award on principle, remains the most renowned "conscientious objector" in Nobel history.

In October, the unconventional choice of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan as the Nobel Prize laureate stirred a debate across the globe. Dylan himself added to the suspense by repeatedly disregarding phone calls from the Swedish Academy, a behavior which was called "rude" and "haughty" by academy members. Dylan notoriously accepted the prize with only a fortnight's delay.

 

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