He's one of the most revered songwriters of all time, and a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature - so you wouldn't necessarily expect Bob Dylan to be a man short on either words or ideas.
However, some questions have been raised about his recent Nobel lecture, which he delivered on June 4th. The lecture - which had to be delivered by June 10th - was a prerequisite to receiving the $900,000 (€800,000) prize fund that accompanies the Prize, but Slate journalist Andrea Pitzer has uncovered numerous similarities in Dylan's lecture and SparkNotes (the online version of CliffNotes) of Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick'.
Dylan referenced Melville's book during the lecture and cited it as an influence, but after writer Ben Greenman pointed out the similarities in a particular sentence, Pitzer investigated and uncovered up to 20 sentences that resembled sentences from the SparkNotes entry for the classic book.
She gives the below as just one example - but the rest can be viewed on the full article on Slate.
Dylan: "Finally, Ahab spots Moby … Boats are lowered … Moby attacks Ahab's boat and destroys it. Next day, he sights Moby again. Boats are lowered again. Moby attacks Ahab's boat again."
SparkNotes: "Ahab finally sights Moby Dick. The harpoon boats are launched, and Moby Dick attacks Ahab's harpoon boat, destroying it. The next day, Moby Dick is sighted again, and the boats are lowered once more … Moby Dick again attacks Ahab's boat."
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Dylan: "Tashtego says that he died and was reborn. His extra days are a gift. He wasn't saved by Christ, though, he says he was saved by a fellow man and a non-Christian at that. He parodies the resurrection."
SparkNotes: "Tashtego … has died and been reborn, and any extra days of his life are a gift. His rebirth also parodies religious images of resurrection. Tashtego is 'delivered' from death not by Christ but by a fellow man – a non-Christian at that."
Neither Dylan nor the Nobel Committee have yet commented.
