Dr. Erin Callahan is an English Professor and a Bob Dylan Scholar. She writes and speaks about the work of Bob Dylan, American popular culture, and American literature. Our conversation begins with a consideration of Dylan within the context of America's current unrest, and then we delve into his new album and lasting impact on American identity. Finally, we briefly connect our conversation to the Humanities and Liberal Arts in American colleges as well as a debate we have had about T.S. Eliot for many years. Below are some of the questions referenced in our discussion, which are based one of Erin's upcoming publications about Dylan. I would like to dedicate this episode to the memory of Eric Muirhead.

Questions:

1.      Let’s start with this, to give listeners a kind of crash course on the significance of Dylan: You once told me that you thought Dylan was America’s Shakespeare. As your friend, and an early modernist, I had to mock you, but I actually agree with that statement. What would you say makes him our bard?

2.      Your upcoming publication about Dylan primarily discusses the question of his “authenticity as a serious artist” as it relates to his use of technology and commercial enterprises. The last question may have answered this, but what has allowed Dylan to remain such an icon and an authentic artist in modern American culture?

3.      Here are some items that I would like to address if we haven’t already by this point:

a.      You say that early in his artistic journey, Dylan was drawn to “experiences subversive to the homogenized and sanitized America projected in blockbuster movies and popular television and music.” That seems like a voice we need today. What role do you see the voice of Dylan’s art playing in American culture at the moment?

b.      One thing I love about Dylan is that he touches on every emotion and draws me into his lyrics the way Shakespeare or T.S. Eliot does by inspiring some internal struggle with my human dualism and compartmentalizations.  He is both nostalgia and avant garde. What are some of the qualities of his work that you would say give him this prolific range of connection?

4.      And then still, if we haven’t dealt with this, commenting on Dylan’s role as a figure for midwestern industrial laborers, you say, “The pro-labor message echoes Dylan’s folk, New Left and Whitmanesque origins recognizing the dignity of labor as foundational to the American republic, its identity and strength.” In his upcoming album, Dylan seems like he might reconnect us with some of those features. I’m thinking of the song from that album bearing a title from Whitman, “I Contain Multitudes.” What do you think of this new album and what kind of American message might we look forward to?

5.      Speaking of “American,” you and I have had an ongoing debate about whether or not T.S. Eliot is American or British, and it all started because you instigated an insurrection in my British Lit class with your gatekeeper nationalism. Care to comment on how you justify your claim, especially since Eliot actually formalized his expatriation and joined the Anglican Church?

6.      And speaking of literature classes, what are your thoughts on the state of colleges and universities, and on being a professor in the humanities/liberal arts these days?