“I’m not there, I’m gone,” is a Bob Dylan lyric and the inspiration for the Todd Haynes biopic. It is also his response to the Nobel Committee who has been trying to contact him but has yet to hear back. “Right now we are doing nothing. I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough,” Sara Danius of the Nobel Academy said on state radio, according to The Guardian, later saying: “If he doesn’t want to come, he won’t come. It will be a big party in any case and the honour belongs to him.” Dylan also has yet to mention the award as he tours, leaving fans to parse setlists for meaning.
Dylan has always been enigmatic, to put it kindly, and he was a master of trolling long before trolling was a thing, from his wacky Christmas album all the way back to the mid-60s tours where fans berated him for going electric. His response to the award will undoubtedly be interesting and unexpected; we’re all holding our breath.