Is Bob Dylan protected in Norway?
Is the musician Bob Dylan protected by Norwegian reviewers? His new book “The Philosophy of Modern Song”, which contains essays on 66 songs by other artists, has received positive reviews in Norwegian newspapers, with almost no criticism. Latest in Aftenposten on Saturday 26 November.
In foreign newspapers, on the other hand, Dylan has been referred to as sexist. Hatred of women (misogyny) is a term that recurs in several reviews.
The Los Angeles Times claims the book is marinated in misogyny and spends large parts of the review exemplifying how Dylan refers to women in the most vicious way. The book testifies that Dylan has extremely dark and disturbing ideas about the opposite sex.
The Financial Times writes that the sexism in the book is so exaggerated that it gets a comedic edge. It turns into misogyny in the chapter on “Witchy Woman” by the Eagles.
Only four of the 66 songs in Dylan’s book were written by women. We are led to believe that this is a result of the time he grew up in. Society, and especially the music industry, was male-dominated and sexist.
Dylan’s philosophy about women is problematic and puts some of his own songs in a new light.
Jan Fredrik Lockert, Oslo