Expecting Rain

Here are the exam questions from the university course "Bob Dylan - Interpreter of traditions, mirror of culture", given at the University of Oslo. These questions were given for a three day home exam in the spring term of 2011. The candidates were to write 7-9 pages, excluding bibliography and footnotes.

Here goes:

1) Many of Dylan's songs are about outsiders and the less fortunate in society (the discriminated, the underdog, the outlaw, etc.). Present some examples of such songs, keeping a special emphasis on how Dylan presents such groups or persons. If you can, you should use examples from different stages of his career. Discuss what traditions (cultural, religious, social, political, or similar) Dylan relates to when he portrays such groups.

2) Since the 1960s, Dylan can be said to have functioned as a mirror of his time, albeit in various ways. Present different stages of Dylan's relation to his contemporary surroundings (culturally, politically, etc.), using examples from his life and/or his songs. What do you think is Dylan's most important contribution to our modern society and culture? Discuss this, and state the reasons for your views.


That's it!

Choose one of them, and get started. One doesn't have to write full 7-9 pages of course, just do what you want to do out of it. A few remarks:

-Thanks to Prof. Aasgaard, who is the man in charge for this course. I asked him for permission to upload these questions to ER, which he kindly gave.

-The questions were (hurriedly) translated from Norwegian by yours truly, so do let me know if some of it is uncomprehensible.

-When I took the exam, I went for the first question, and had quite a good time with it. If I find the time and will power, and if anybody wants to see it, I'll remove the footnotes, translate it and upload it to this thread.

Oh, and if you just want to discuss the questions, that's fun too.

I will take the second subject, I see a lot of potential in that.

Great! I'm looking forward to see what you make out of it.

Will you print me a nice little degree?

I'll see what I can manage in Paint.

If you do find the time and will power, I'd love to read your paper, matulah.

Please, do! I'd love to read it.

Thanks! I'll see what I can manage through the weekend.

Interesting questions, I am too tired now to respond. I think that the first question is the easiest for a Dylan fan but I find the second question more profound. I'm in

Please post your answer too Matulah. Did you get good grades?

Sweet dreams for now

Please post your answer sometime!

I'll try to get it done in the coming days. I scored the max, sweet deal to take a Dylan exam when you've been a diehard fan for ten years. I think time spent on ER must account for it too.

Good night!

This topic also speaks to the thread chrome horse started on whether Dylan has a larger/more loyal fanbase outside of the U.S. Although I've heard of a few colleges here offering coursework on Bob's literary contributions (Boston University has one), I still find it remarkable how far-reaching an interest his career holds abroad. It also confirms how his work touches all cultures. I wish they offered a course on BD when I was in school.

Wait. You're getting actual college credits for this? Score!

Yes! Good night and good luck, Matulah!

Where's the dude from the Brady Bunch? Maybe he can poach some of these for his thesis.

I may or may not write the full 7-9 pages if i get time... although i find the second question to be potentialy flawed. I think, especially later in his career Dylan reflects bygone times, although I suppose you could argue that some of Love and Theft reflects post 9/11 US eventhough it was written before then... give me a couple of months and I'll come back to you!

Cool. ....My daughter's college offers a seminar on Dylan ...wish we'd
had a course on Bob when i was in school! However, there is no way i would write a 7-9 page
paper voluntarily ...not even if the subject is Bob !

Once i came upon a blog of a graduate in English Philology from Moscow who had choosed the Cronicles as subject of her degree work. i can put the link but it is all in Russian

Indiana University ran a dylan class last year too - so I guess he's reached the country of the midwest as a solid topic of study!

I would have chosen question #1 too.
What was the course about? Did they give examples of his music? I'd love to sit in class listening to Bob!

Here is the university's information page about the course (it's in Norwegian): http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/ifik ... /index.xml

Under the heading "What will you learn from this course?", they've written that you'll be expected to have gained:

-An overview over Dylan's life and artistic career.
-A familiarity with a representative selection of his songs and texts.
-An insight into the main themes of his works.
-An overview over the historical, cultural and literary roots of Dylan's production.
-An insight in how he mirrors various periods and tendencies from the postwar period up to this day.
-Training in analysing and presenting material on Dylan in a way conforming to the methodology of the history of ideas.
-A foundation for construing Dylan's cultural significance today.
-Knowledge of different perceptions of Dylan both in recent research and in popular culture.

There were lots of musical examples. In addition, there are 6 albums on the mandatory reading/listening list:

"The Freewheelin'", "Blonde on Blonde", "Blood On The Tracks", "Slow Train Coming", "Time Out Of Mind" and "Tell Tale Signs".

Those are albums in the 2012 term, in 2011 it was "Shot of Love" instead of "Slow Train".

It should be noted that the course is given by the institute for philosophy and the history of ideas, and not English or Music.

And yes, this gives you 10 "studiepoeng" worth of credits. 30 is a full term. It's a wild world.

^^^^
That's a good selection of albums, interesting the would include Tell Tale Signs! I have some things worked out in my mind in regard to the second question, I shall get to it this weekend.

When I competed my Eng Lit degree at University of Sussex in 1972, there was one question on the English Poetry exam that went (and I am paraphrasing) something like:

"At dawn my lover comes to me and tells me of her dreams
With no attempt to shovel the glimpse into the ditch of what each one means"

Write about a poet of your choice and show the extent to which s/he does or does not shovel the glimpse of dreams into the ditch of what they mean ......

I chose to answer a less difficult question about TSEliot!!!

here's the syllabus for the indiana university class. it looked legit. i couldn't imagine how excited i would be on textbook purchasing today. or carrying around Chronicles I in my bag and saying, 'it's a textbook', when people ask what i have there...

http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/course ... %20web.pdf

Makes me want to go back to school.