Bob Dylan and Kurt Vonnegut can both be described as American writers with a distinctive sensibility, a penchant for grand themes and an unexpected sense of humor. Their appearances outside of their usual medium also have the ability to surprise: the former was in a Victoria’s Secret commercial, while the latter was in the film Back to School. But while there are plenty of people who are fans of both Vonnegut and Dylan, it cannot be said that Vonnegut was a Dylan fan. Quite the reverse, in fact.
In a new article for Literary Hub, Emily Temple revisited a 1991 Hustler interview with Vonnegut in which the author of Slaughterhouse-Five weighed in on the author of Tarantula. “Bob Dylan, however, is the worst poet alive,” Vonnegut said in the interview. “He can maybe get one good line in a song, and the rest is gibberish.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Temple reports, Vonnegut had positive things to say about the Beatles and less-than-glowing things to say about rap. It’s worth pointing out that Vonnegut is not the only high-profile Dylan detractor out there; as Far Out noted, the likes of Joni Mitchell and Liam Gallagher have also offered critiques of Dylan’s work.
Bob Dylan Reveals His Favorite Contemporary Artists
Yes, he’s a big Wu-Tang guyThis does have the makings of an intriguing party game: pick a year at random and debate the relative merits of Dylan and Vonnegut’s respective works from that year. 1985, which saw the release of Dylan’s Empire Burlesque and Vonnegut’s Galapagos, should make for an especially entertaining discussion.
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