Later on Saturday, another ceremony was set to be held in Stockholm where the Nobel laureates in the sciences, economics and literature would be honoured — a ceremony marked by the notable absence of this year's literature laureate, Bob Dylan. “If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon,” Dylan wrote in the speech read Saturday night by the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Azita Raji, in Stockholm. Dylan did not go to Stockholm Saturday to collect his prize, which the Swedish Academy says was awarded “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Well, then:

“God said to Abraham, ‘Kill me a son’

Abe says, ‘Man, you must be puttin’ me on’

With his memories in a trunk

Passed this way an hour ago

Then he went off sniffing drainpipes

Now you would not think to look at him

But he was famous long ago

The New York Times primly notes that the academy is famous for “its at times almost willful perversity in picking winners.” Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh (“Trainspotting”) professes himself “a Dylan fan” but tweeted that the Nobel is “an ill-conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies.” Strong letter to follow. Representing the Nobel laureate at the prize-giving, the US singer admitted nerves in performance at Swedish academy

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A very nervous Patti Smith initially stumbled through A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall in Stockholm on Saturday in a performance given to mark Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize for literature. “Is the financing in place?” “Are there enough good seats for my patrons?” “Where am I going to get a human skull?” I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question “Is this literature?”

When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far. Where am I going to get a human skull?’ I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question: ‘Is this literature?’

“Like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavours and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters. “He panned poetry gold, whether on purpose or by accident is irrelevant … he gave back to poetry its elevated style, lost since the romantics.”

The award, announced in October, was the first to be given to a songwriter.
Patti Smith performs in place of Bob Dylan in the Nobel Prize for Literature ceremony.