Jokerman : reading the lyrics of Bob Dylan

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Jokerman : reading the lyrics of Bob Dylan

Aidan Day

B. Blackwell, 1988

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Bob Dylan is described as one of the most startling, prolific and controversial contemporary song-writers. This book explores the complexity and subtlety of his lyrics and their themes, seeking to make intelligible that seems obscure and difficult. The author reviews the manner in which many of Dylan's lyrics treat fundamental questions concerning the nature of human identity. He argues that these lyrics represent a continuation of the experimental poetic practices of modernism. At the heart of Dylan's work are the discrepancies between the conscious, socialized self, born of language, and those potencies of personality that lie outside rational formulation. For Dylan, identity is multiform and bizarre, resisting attempts to resolve the disjunction between conscious and unconscious dimensions of mind or to distinguish absolutely between light and dark forces in the personality. Through close readings of lyrics from the whole of Dylan's career to date, this book offers insights into the force and meaning of the works. An appendix outlines the course of Dylan's career and lists his officially released recordings.

Table of Contents

  • Words
  • mouths - "Ballad of a Thin Man"
  • reels of rhyme - "Mr Tambourine Man", "Eternal Circle", "Love Minus Zero/No Limit"
  • lady language creator - "Isis", "I Shall Be Released", "Tangled Up in Blue", "Shelter from the Storm"
  • that enemy within - "Brownsville Girl", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", "Desolation Row", "She Belongs to Me", "New Pony"
  • to separate the good from the bad - Christian lyrics, "Precious Angel", "Heart of Mine"
  • that forbidden zone - "Visions of Johanna", "I and I", "All Along the Watchtower", "Jokerman". Appendix: Chronology of Dylan's career and officially released recordings.

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