Revisiting Bob Dylan’s Tarantula in a Rough and Rowdy Time

Abstract

For over half a century, Bob Dylan has held what Ben Sisario of the New York Times calls “an almost mythic status as the bard of the current age.” Yet one can argue that the “current age” might well be every age. Since his first recordings sixty years ago, audiences have looked to Dylan as an icon of justice, civil rights, and protest, a sometimes reluctant guide and a voice widely understood to be one of reason and progress. Now, as devastating obstacles wreak havoc worldwide, response to Dylan’s recent work suggests it is may be more significant than ever.

Keywords

• bob dylan
• tarantula
• critical response