But Dylan had strong urges then, as he still does now, to shroud himself in mythology. It's difficult to say what motivated him to do this--he writes that he doesn't like the questions, but that is more likely defiance of those who ask them than the truth. More likely, then, is this: deeply affected by the mythology of traditional folk music, he sought to somehow incorporate himself in this tradition, beginning by deliberately obscuring his origins.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Mythology
I was always intrigued by Dylan's persistence in obscuring the truth of his past. He relates one instance of this, discussing his background with a publicity man from Columbia Records. Dylan was not, as he claimed in his brief conversation with the man, from Detroit, he hadn't traveled around, his father was not an electrician, and he'd never ridden in a boxcar.
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2 comments:
I think you are right, and he did want to obscure his origins. I felt that was because he was writing the biography of Dylan, the musician, and not Dylan, the human being. What I thought was interesting was that as he was trying to find his place in the tradition of folk music, he wasn't able to name even one musician whose music was close to his own. It looked like he wasn't trying to incorporate himself in the tradition; he was so unique that the tradition had to incorporate him.
I don't know Dylan's history at all and have only read one chapter of his autobiography, but he does not seem so self obsessed as to feel the need to "shroud himself in mythology." I thought his made up stories were just retaliation against the monotonous, meaningless questions directed towards him. Perhaps the rest of the book will prove me wrong.
I do agree with Ross and Rali that his claim of such individual folk music was a bit egotistical, but the man did know his stuff.
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