
Bob Dylan
Like a Complete Unknown
David Yaffe(Author)
Yale University Press
Published on 16. July 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-300-18187-6 (ISBN)
Description
Bob Dylan is an iconic figure in American musical and cultural history, lauded by Time magazine as one of the hundred most important people of the twentieth century. For nearly fifty years the singer-songwriter has crafted his unique brand of music, from his 1962 self-titled debut album to 2009's #1 hit Together Through Life, appealing to everyone from baby boomers to the twenty-somethings who storm the stage at his concerts.
In Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown, literary scholar and music critic David Yaffe considers Dylan from four perspectives: his complicated relationship to blackness (including his involvement in the civil rights movement and a secret marriage with a black backup singer), the underrated influence of his singing style, his fascinating image in films, and his controversial songwriting methods that have led to charges of plagiarism. Each chapter travels from the 1960s to the present, offering a historical perspective on the many facets of Dylan's life and career, exploring the mystery that surrounds the enigmatic singer and revealing the complete unknown Dylan.
In Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown, literary scholar and music critic David Yaffe considers Dylan from four perspectives: his complicated relationship to blackness (including his involvement in the civil rights movement and a secret marriage with a black backup singer), the underrated influence of his singing style, his fascinating image in films, and his controversial songwriting methods that have led to charges of plagiarism. Each chapter travels from the 1960s to the present, offering a historical perspective on the many facets of Dylan's life and career, exploring the mystery that surrounds the enigmatic singer and revealing the complete unknown Dylan.
Reviews / Votes
"Only Yaffe gets anywhere close to following Dylan's drift" (Christopher Bray, Literary Review)"More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 b-w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
221 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-18187-6 (9780300181876)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition

Book
05/2011
Yale University Press
€24.76
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
David Yaffe is assistant professor of English at Syracuse University and the author of Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing. He is a music critic for the Nation and has written articles for the Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, the New York Times, Bookforum, New York Magazine, Slate, The New Republic, The Village Voice, and other publications.