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About the Book

The key phrase for this book is cultural connections. It shows Dylan’s cultural connenctions in a variety of ways. It shows how his Jewish heritage connections him to a variety of writers and performers. It also shows that the most important influence in his life was not Woody Guthrie, as people often suppose, but someone whom he never met—the painter Pablo Picasso. Dylan’s career has remarkable similarities to Picasso’s.“Decoding Dylan” also shows the connections between and among songs. Three of his greatest songs form a trilogy devoted to the theme of transcendence: “Mr. Tambourine Man”; “Desolation Row”: and “Visions of Johanna.”This book also does two other things that previous books on Dylan have notdone: It analyzes his complex use of rhymes, and discusses his career in thecontext of the two other Jewish geniuses who dominated American popular culture in the late twentieth century: Woody Allen and Barbara Streisand.

About Jim

Jim Curtis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he saw Elvis perform live in 1956. That event changed his life, and made him a lifelong rock and roll fan.However, he did do other things with his life. Like Elvis, he left Tupelo. He received his BA from Vanderbilt University and his PhD from Columbia University. He taught for 31 years at the University of Missouri and is the author of seven books, indulging “Decoding Dylan.” He is now Professor Emeritus from that institution.

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