Bob Dylan breaks silence on his Nobel Prize: 'Whoever dreams about something like that?'

Bob Dylan (Getty)
Bob Dylan (Getty)

Legendary US songwriter Bob Dylan has finally broken his silence on whether or not he plans to accept the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Dylan was awarded the prize just over two weeks ago "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", making him the first musician to win the accolade, and the first from the US since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.

But he's remained tight-lipped about his achievement since then - with one member of the Swedish Academy, the organisation that awarded him the prize, labelling him "impolite and arrogant" after attempts to get in contact with him failed.

It appears that peace has been made though, after permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, revealed that Dylan has now returned their calls.

"The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless - I appreciate the honour so much," he told her over the phone.

There were rumours floating round that Dylan may become just the second person in history to reject the award, after French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, but the 75-year-old moved to allay those fears in an interview with The Telegraph.

On whether he would attend the awards ceremony in Stockholm come December, Dylan said: "Absolutely, if it's at all possible."

He also said that it was an "amazing, incredible" feeling when he was first told he would be awarded the prize, adding, "Whoever dreams about something like that?"

The songwriter says not even he can explain the meaning of his lyrics - but the intensity and authenticity of writing a song is what continues to draw him back to that particular craft.

"I'll let other people decide what they are. The academics, they ought to know. I'm not really qualified - I don't have any opinion," he said.

"There's a certain intensity in writing a song, and you have to keep in mind why you are writing it and for who and what for. Paintings, and to a greater extent movies, can be created for propaganda purposes - whereas songs can't be."

Newshub.