I've enjoyed the Chronicles: Volume One so far. Dylan's perceptiveness of other people correlates to some great imagery and interesting scenes but may highlight some of his teleological language. Just having one conversation with someone he thinks he can pinpoint their character like the "Ivy League" man at the record studio. His autobiography is pretty typical--a chronological narrative. Relating to his words just seems easier to me, probably because this is the most modern biography we have written. Does anyone feel different about reading an autobiography of someone who is still alive?
His quick explanations of how famous folk singers, or any musicians for that matter, inspired him shed some light on him, but he has yet to reveal much about his inner self (granted it's only the first chapter). I think the facet of himself he has shown the most is that he doesn't really question himself but just knows what he wants to do: "I envisioned myself recording for Folkway Records. That was the label I wanted to be on...It was a club [the Gaslight] I wanted to play, needed to" (p.15).
3 comments:
I agree that reading a biography written in the 21st century is a little easier, though maybe not for the reasons you suggested. The novel isn't actually chronological all the way through--each individual chapter is chronological, but there is no apparent relation between one chapter and another and they jump around in time from the early 1960's to the early 70's to the mid-80's and back to the 60's. But each chapter is essentially a detailed snapshot of Dylan at a particular stage in his life; given the many incarnations of Dylan himself, these snapshots may be the most effective way to understand his life.
I liked your comment about actually reading an autobiography where the person is still alive. Does that change our view? Every biography we have read involves the events of a person's life that are past, and can not be remedied or expounded upon at a later date due to the individual's passing. Dylan's autobiography thus far is also the first one that has a Volume number in the title, inherently implying that there is to be a Volume II, III, and so forth. This "living" autobiography could be further analyzed with the idea of historized consciousness. If Dylan is writing it, for the most part, as he goes along in life, is this the first autobiography that we've seen that lacks historized consciousness (or at least lacks it to a lesser extent)?
I feel that the Dylan's Chronicles reads easily because of the fact that his sentences flow with clear messages about his life. Dylan's language seems to tell a story in a simple manner. He introduces a variety of characters and how they relate to his life, and then he moves off with an easy chronological transition. At the same time I agree with Ross' comment as to how the autobiography can be viewed as a variety of snapshots of his life. In each and every snapshot throughout the first chapter one can see Dylan's own personal feelings towards the people and events of his life. He means what he writes and he doesn't want to hide it from the reader. His story is a success story.
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