– Bob Dylan non esiste, su Nazione Indiana

“In questo discorso su Anon, sulla voce popolare, scrive Virginia Woolf: “Il drammaturgo anonimo è irresponsabile”, la sua è saggezza pre-politica, al contempo basilare e irriverente verso ogni forma di strutturazione formale, e Dylan ha avuto la fortuna di reinterpretare lo spirito della canzone popolare in un’epoca in cui ancora la frammentazione e distrazione di massa consentiva di convogliare questi contenuti in grandi fruizioni di massa…”.

Il saggio “Bob Dylan non esiste. Tradizione popolare e anonimato dal folk al social network” oggi su Nazione Indiana, viene pubblicato a cura di Renata Morresi, una delle storiche redattrici della rivista di scrittura che è una sorta di c0ntenitore collettivo e possiede un Forum redazionale molto vasto: Eulalia.

“The author analyzes the similarities between Bob Dylan’s declarations on his work as artist contained in his letter for Nobel Prize in Literature 2016, with Virginia Woolf’s Essay “Anon”, written in 1941 during the Nazis’ advance in Europe. From a comparison between Dylan’s text and the essay of Woolf, she develops a reflection on popular, blues, folk and protest songs, followed by some considerations on anonymity in music, theatre and poetry, and anonymity in the present society of information.

The word “popular” assumes different meanings. It can refer to “something that promotes a mass culture” (that is the case of Patty Smith’s song “People have the power”) or “a simple remix of custom themes”, like in the italian rap song “Andiamo a comandare”, that was played during the meetings of the xenophobic party “Lega Nord”, causing the astonished reaction of the songwriter.

After a brief introduction on the relationship between protest movements and music, and on the correspondences and differences between John Lennon’s and Bob Dylan’s personality, the author tells us that “Anonymity is a necessary condition for freedom of speech in oppressive contexts as it allowed us to join our efforts for a common cause without asking for fame or power in return. But it can also represent a loss of memory, when we forget the origin of a “meme” and the path that brought to its reinterpretation in the present time. Loss of memory means also loss of direction.” “Maybe in the future someone will think that Bob Dylan was created in video, that he never existed. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t in Stockholm. And the answer will blowin’ in the wind.”