"No career better embodies the folk revival than that of Bob Dylan, whose audacious autometamorphosis sanctioned and consolidated the movement already abroad in youth culture." (Cantwell, 185)
This quote from Cantwell struck me as I was finishing up my reading this week. The fact that Dylan is used as a reference point for the folk revival did not surprise me, nor the way in which he has been the focus of much of the scholarship. Rather, what stuck me was the words that Cantwell used to explain his importance and the way in which he is written about... An "audacious autometamorphosis" embodies the romanticism and character given to the movement my its many followers. Similarly, "sanctioning" and "consolidating" are very exacting terms. It is not explained that Dylan became associated with the folk revival or that he identified the movement for some, no, for the scholars we have read this week (Cantwell and Marcus) Dylan WAS the folk revival, and he is the man who the youth identified with no questioned. Dylan became for them the AUTHENTIC folk revival, and those who strayed or did not fit under this definition could still be discussed but they were not the same authentic voice as Dylan. Those voices became the counterculture movement, or were folk singers that were influenced by other passions, ideas, or politics that were not quite as authentic as Dylan.
In fact, I don't know if anyone else got this sense, but when Dylan was discussed in these readings many of the passages themselves read as songs. Marcus's contribution "The Day Kennedy Was Shot", especially reads like a song. For example: "The song melted the mask..." (33) / "Dylan had announced himself under the same shape-shifting shadow" (21) / "Dylan's voice was scraped and twisting" (23).
A folk revival uniform becomes apparent when reading these articles. It is not jeans and a t-shirt or the overalls of a factory worker. The uniform of the folk revival, the AUTHENTIC folk revival, was whatever Bob Dylan wore on stage that day. There is a degree of worship that emerges within these articles. I am not denying the importance of Dylan, nor the value of his music... (if fact I am a fan), instead I am wonder whether or not describing a whole movement through one man "whose audacious autometamorphosis sanctioned and consolidated the movement" is how we should approach the folk revival? I question if we are not now far enough removed from the influences of the "scraped and twisting" voice of Dylan to be able to look around his prominent cut out and see the other players on the stage as well.
- Sarah
This quote from Cantwell struck me as I was finishing up my reading this week. The fact that Dylan is used as a reference point for the folk revival did not surprise me, nor the way in which he has been the focus of much of the scholarship. Rather, what stuck me was the words that Cantwell used to explain his importance and the way in which he is written about... An "audacious autometamorphosis" embodies the romanticism and character given to the movement my its many followers. Similarly, "sanctioning" and "consolidating" are very exacting terms. It is not explained that Dylan became associated with the folk revival or that he identified the movement for some, no, for the scholars we have read this week (Cantwell and Marcus) Dylan WAS the folk revival, and he is the man who the youth identified with no questioned. Dylan became for them the AUTHENTIC folk revival, and those who strayed or did not fit under this definition could still be discussed but they were not the same authentic voice as Dylan. Those voices became the counterculture movement, or were folk singers that were influenced by other passions, ideas, or politics that were not quite as authentic as Dylan.
In fact, I don't know if anyone else got this sense, but when Dylan was discussed in these readings many of the passages themselves read as songs. Marcus's contribution "The Day Kennedy Was Shot", especially reads like a song. For example: "The song melted the mask..." (33) / "Dylan had announced himself under the same shape-shifting shadow" (21) / "Dylan's voice was scraped and twisting" (23).
A folk revival uniform becomes apparent when reading these articles. It is not jeans and a t-shirt or the overalls of a factory worker. The uniform of the folk revival, the AUTHENTIC folk revival, was whatever Bob Dylan wore on stage that day. There is a degree of worship that emerges within these articles. I am not denying the importance of Dylan, nor the value of his music... (if fact I am a fan), instead I am wonder whether or not describing a whole movement through one man "whose audacious autometamorphosis sanctioned and consolidated the movement" is how we should approach the folk revival? I question if we are not now far enough removed from the influences of the "scraped and twisting" voice of Dylan to be able to look around his prominent cut out and see the other players on the stage as well.
- Sarah
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