Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Perceptions
I've listened to a lot of Dylan's music but I am realizing now that I knew nothing about him. When we watched the movie in class, I saw Dylan as not caring about anyone or anything. He appeared to blow off the media by avoiding their questions by asking other questions. He seemed like he had no worries. Could Dylan have written his autobiography to explain his intentions? Since he is writing at an older age looking back at his life, could he have realized how negatively he was viewed and want to change that? I have a different perception of Dylan after reading some of his autobiography. I am impressed with his love for his family. He tries everything he can to hide them from the media, and there is a marked change in his goals when he has children. He starts talking about retirement after he goes on tour with Tom Petty. Dylan's goals change again after a metamorphosis during one of his songs (153). He decides not to retire. Are his children grown up at this point? He talks about living on a farm, owning a sailboat and traveling with his family. Does he push these things aside to go on tour? (I still have a bit of part 4 left to read, maybe these questions will be answered) I am looking forward to watching the movie tomorrow to see more of how the people perceive Dylan after reading about how Dylan explains himself.
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3 comments:
I think the question you propose about why he wrote his autobiography is an interesting one. From what I understood of him by reading his work, is that he didn't much care what others thought of him. Rather, it seemed to bother him more that people were thinking of him at all, analyzing his every move when he just wanted to be left alone. So why would he feel compelled to write an autobiography?
It is very interesting that you said you listened to a lot of Dylan, but felt like you did not know him at all. Though it is kind of counter-intuitive, I guess artists are entities separate from their art. This was partially what was so annoying about Gertrude Stein's ending: just at the point you felt like you understood her, she visually yells at you from her book, "See! You have NO idea what's going on!" I hope Dylan doesn't do the same at the end of Chronicles.
I liked what Dan said about how we think we get so much of Dylan while in reality we don't. With Stein it was easy to accept that her book was one huge mockery. But I feel that's not as obvious with Dylan. Maybe the reason is that we all know something about him, and just like Mr. Jones we have even more questions we want answered. So we think the book is meant to give us those answers just because we want them so badly (the same reason so many people are reading and believing the yellow press). That's why, like Dan, I really hope that in the end Dylan will tell us that this, as any literary work, is just someone's perception of themselves and the world that surrounds them. Therefore, it's bound to be subjective and incomplete.
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