Our book selection for April 2024 is Raphael Falco’s No One To Meet: Imitation and Originality in the Songs of Bob Dylan (2022), winner of the Elizabeth Agee Prize in American Literature. Dr. Falco is a scholar in the Department of English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He teaches courses in such topics as the Renaissance, colonialism, John Milton, modern poetry—AND Bob Dylan. He writes also poetry, short stories, and plays. Dr. Falco was a founding editor of The Dylan Review (see below) and currently serves as Co-Editor and writes a column entitled Dylanista (you can find these essays HERE). He published Goya’s Kiss: Dylan and the Arts in Brian Hosmer & Sean Latham, eds., The World of Bob Dylan (2021).
His other books include Cultural Genealogy, Charisma and Myth, Charismatic Authority in Early Modern Tragedy, and Conceived Presences: Literary Genealogy in Renaissance England. His stories, poetry, and plays include Goodbye Is Too Good a Word, The Day John Lennon Died, Shaping Days, The Lights of Ossining, Frankie’s Market, and Epigrams. He holds editorial positions with Soundings: an Interdisciplinary Journal and Appositions. His B.A. and M.A. degrees are from Columbia University and his Ph.D. is from New York University. Find out more about Raphael, including his dedication to biking, by visiting: RAPHAEL FALCO – Department of English – UMBC and Raphael Falco - Biography. His lecture on Charismatic Authority can be found here:  Raphael Falco (youtube.com).

The Dylan Review is an on-line journal that began publicaton in 2020. From the website: “The Dylan Review provides a forum for rigorous intellectual and creative exploration of Bob Dylan’s art. Our founding premise is that Bob Dylan is a singular American artist. His songs, performances, and other art continue to challenge our values and institutions, as they have done for over a half-a-century. With a commitment to interdisciplinary discourse, the Dylan Review hosts conversations on all aspects of Bob Dylan’s work, encouraging scholars, authors, and listeners to participate.”

Connections to other books we’ve read this year: 1. Falco identifies Pete Seeger as Dylan’s counterpoint and this reminds me that Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric (our October 2023 book) interweaves the three great threads that came together at Newport in 1965: the history of the Folk Festival, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger and 2. on page 27, Falco quotes Anthony Scaduto's biography of Bob Dylan (page 82) in which he tells the story of a "Mrs. Smith" who told Dylan that "Woody Guthrie was a man of his own times. Why do you try to live in his times?...Don't do what all the other folk singers are doing. What the hell does a boxcar mean to them? What does it mean to you?...Don't lose yourself in Woody's shadow". In Falco's footnote he explains "The Smith family, aka the McKenzies, wished to remain anonymous for Scaduto's biography. Mrs. Smith's name was Eve."  When we discussed Bob Dylan: On a Couch & Fifty Cents a Day with author Peter McKenzie (our December 2023 book), we learned from Peter first hand that Dylan treasured the long conversations he had with Peter’s mother Eve around the kitchen table at the McKenzie apartment and among the topics was Eve’s advice on Dylan’s future direction. In Chronicles: Volume One, Mr. Dylan himself protects the identity of his early friends and supporters, calling the McKenzies the “Gooches”. If you know that, you know that at least (ha ha) one of the quotes on the back of EDLIS’s book, Dylan’s Hibbing (our January 2024 book), is an inside joke (it’s April 1st as I write this, too).

A lively, well-written, and expansive analysis of Dylan’s song-making. Falco made use of the Bob Dylan Archives, one of the first book to do so, and ranges widely over Dylan’s contributions, from well-known to more obscure.

Book Club member Christopher Vanni provided this LINK, writing “I learned so much from reading this book! This article is just a small sampling for inspiration.”

Peter White, March 2024