Bob
Dylan will be 70 years old on 24 May 2011. This conference will celebrate, and
reflect on, the career of one of the most significant figures in the cultural
life of the past fifty years by bringing together the UK’s foremost Dylan
scholars. As singer, composer, poet, performer, Dylan continues to inspire and
infuriate. His radicalism was always founded on a respect for authenticity,
whether in the domain of folk music or politics or religion. His
‘re-inventions’ of himself have arguably sprung not from an unstable identity,
but from a constant quest. The conference will track the changes in Dylan’s
sense of himself, and of his art, and our response to these changes. The conference will present a series of fresh,
informed academic papers on Bob Dylan’s work, from a number of different
disciplinary perspectives.
Professor Daniel Karlin Winterstoke Professor of English University of Bristol
Supported by the Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA) with the Department of English and the Office for Public Events