It doesn’t seem that US singer Bob Dylan has much in common with literary *mavens like Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Elliot. But, last week, these three figures became forever bonded by the Nobel Prize for Literature.

美国歌手鲍勃.迪伦与文学大家欧内斯特.海明威、T.S.艾略特似乎并没有什么共同之处。但是，就在上周，诺贝尔文学奖却将这三人永久地联系在一起。

This year’s prize makes Dylan the first American since Toni Morrison in 1993 to win the title. At the same time, the surprise announcement has also *ignited a firestorm of discussion around the globe.

今年的奖项使迪伦成为自1993年托妮.莫里森获奖以来首位获奖的美国人。与此同时，这一出人意料的结果也激起全球热议。

Influential US writer Jodi Picoult joked that she might now deserve a Grammy. And well-known British-Indian novelist Hari Kunzru *lamented on social media by saying: “This feels like the lamest Nobel win since they gave it to Obama for not being Bush.”

极具影响力的美国作家茱迪.皮考特开玩笑说，她现在应该拿到格莱美奖。而著名英籍印度裔小说家哈里.昆兹鲁也在社交媒体上抱怨道：“我感觉这是自评委会把诺贝尔和平奖颁给奥巴马，而不是布什以来，最没说服力的诺贝尔奖。”

Dylan’s new status–a musician awarded the Nobel Prize for literature–to a degree defies convention. However, this is by no means his first prize for his writing talents. Back in 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded Dylan a special citation “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power”. In this *strand, it could be argued that what the Nobel Committee is doing is simply *reinforcing Dylan’s unshakable standing in the world of literature.

迪伦的新身份——获得诺贝尔文学奖的音乐人——在某种程度上打破了常规。然而，这绝不是他靠写作天赋所赢得的首个奖项。早在2008年，普利策奖评委会便授予了迪伦特别荣誉奖，“以示他对流行音乐和美国文化的深远影响，他的歌词创作中具有超凡的诗意力量”。在这一层面上，诺贝尔委员会现在所做的只不过是强化了迪伦在文学界中不可动摇的地位罢了。

The words behind Dylan’s songs address social issues and have been *transmitted from generation to generation. Protest songs like Blowin’ in the Wind (1962) were the anthems of anti-war and civil rights movements in 1960s US. Densely poetic and image-rich songs such as Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)pushed the folk-rock movement. And even today, many of Dylan’s songs are still relevant and streamed regularly by people all over the world.

迪伦的歌词中披露了许多社会问题并被代代传唱。他的抗议歌曲，如《在风中飘荡》（1962）等，便是赞扬20世纪60年代美国反战和民权运动的颂歌。《铃鼓先生》(1965)等极富诗意与想象力的歌曲，则推动了摇滚民谣运动的发展。即使到了今天，迪伦的许多歌曲依然和现今社会息息相关，在世界各地广为流传。

In a speech during the MusiCares pre-Grammy honors in 2015, Dylan revealed how he uses lyrics to document American culture and create an American songbook of his own. “I learned lyrics and how to write them from listening to folk songs,” said Dylan. “And I played them, and I met other people that played them, back when nobody was doing it.”

在2015年格莱美颁奖礼前夕的MusiCares 晚会上，迪伦在一次演讲中透露了他如何用歌词来记录美国文化，并创造了一个属于自己的美国歌集。“听民谣令我学到了不少歌词，并懂得了如何创作，”迪伦说道。“然后我开始演奏民谣，与同好接触，当时并没有多少人这样做。”

There is nothing more honorable to win *acclaim from one’s competitors, but Dylan managed it. “From Orpheus to Faiz, song & poetry have been closely linked,” Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born novelist also thought to have been a candidate for the prize, told The New York Times. “Dylan is the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition,” Rushdie added. “Great choice.”

没什么能比获得对手的称赞更值得令人敬佩的了，但迪伦却做到了。“从俄耳甫斯到法伊兹，歌曲和诗歌都紧密相连，”诺贝尔文学奖候选人之一，印度小说家萨尔曼.鲁西迪在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示。“迪伦是诗歌传统的杰出继承者，”鲁西迪补充道。“这是个无与伦比的选择。”