The Transformation Of Bob Dylan's Political Views In The 1960s

Bob Dylan is not merely a great poet and musician who has made considerable contribution to the combination of poetry and music,but also a significant social and political figure whose works represent and discern the essence of the American politics and society.The 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature has sparked the academia's enthusiasm about researching the literary values of Bob Dylan's works,but the political side of him is seldom the research focus.The decade of 1960s witnessed not only a series of social movements that have reshaped the US politics and society,but also some of the most influential and significant works in Bob Dylan's career.Apart from exploring Dylan's interactions with the US politics in the 60s,this thesis aims to investigate if there was a transformation of his political views in the unique decade.With a close examination of Bob Dylan's lyrics in the 1960s,this thesis discovers that there was a significant transformation of Bob Dylan's political views.In the early 1960s when Dylan's career just began,he was enthusiastic about participatory politics,about playing an active role in the progressive social movements of the decade,namely the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war protests.It is evident that Dylan's political views were rights-centered in this period of his 60s career.This is demonstrated in his works through which he meant to motivate the subjugated ethnic minorities and war victims to strive for their equality,justice and freedom.Nevertheless,the mid-1960s witnessed a transformation of Dylan's political views.Apart from withdrawing from participatory politics by cutting his allegiance to the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war campaigns,Dylan discarded the rights-centered mindset in his political views.Instead,he turned to explore and decipher such premises of the US politics and society as freedom,equality and justice.On the basis of such political transformation,the analytical section in this paper is separated into two segments.The first segment investigates Bob Dylan's devotion to the participatory and rights-centered politics in the early 1960s,while the second explores the transformation in which he rejected to be associated with the social movements and turned to examine the creeds and premises of the US politics and society.This thesis aims to decipher the transformation of Dylan's political views with a key postmodern concept—Jean-Francois Lyotard's theory of metanarratives.It can provide an integrated framework to discern both Dylan's dedication and incredulity to the participatory politics of the 60s which was oriented towards the collective pursuit of freedom,equality and justice.In this thesis,the rights-oriented ideology of the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war protests in the 1960s are interpreted as metanarratives.In the pre-transformation phase,Dylan adhered to such metanarratives by participating in the social movements'struggles for the freedom,equality and justice for ethnic minorities and war victims.However,the transformation of Dylan's political views demonstrated his growing disillusionment of the metanarratives of the participatory and rights-oriented politics.As a result,Dylan discarded his allegiance to such social movements and turned to be devoted to the profound exploration and examination of the creeds and premises of the US politics and society.