Bertolt Brecht and Bob Dylan: Influence and Identity

Abstract

While the influence of Bertolt Brecht on Bob Dylan has been long recognised (and indeed is acknowledged by Dylan himself), the profound dimensions of this influence have hitherto escaped critics. Dylan's encounter with the work of the German poet and playwright was a decisive moment in the history of American protest music - and not merely because a phrase he adapted from Brecht become a famous expression of youthful dissent. More significantly, Brecht’s influence led Dylan to question the protest-singing platform he had inherited from Woody Guthrie. This study demonstrates by detailed analysis in what ways Brecht's ambivalent artistic stance determined the subversive direction the young Dylan would take, even down to the wording of his texts. It also proves that Brecht continued to influence Dylan's work throughout the 1960s, and had a considerable impact again in 1975 through the latter's collaboration with the theatre director Jacques Levy on the album Desire and the ensuing concert tour. By means of a wide-ranging analysis which crosses the boundaries not only of language but also of high culture and popular culture, this study demonstrates that the example of Brecht paradoxically but crucially shaped the distinctive voice which made Dylan so important to a generation of Americans.