Teaching Bob Dylan: "Multitudes"

by Barry J. Faulk (Editor), Brady Harrison (Editor)

Overview

Teaching Bob Dylan offers educators practical, adaptable strategies for designing or updating courses (or units within courses) on the life, music, career, and critical reception of Bob Dylan. Drawing on the latest pedagogical developments and best classroom practices in a range of fields, the contributors present concrete approaches for teaching not only Dylan's lyrics and music, but also his many-and sometimes abrupt or unexpected-changes in musical direction, numerous creative guises, and writings. Situating Dylan and his work in their musical, literary, historical, and cultural contexts, the essays explore ways to teach Dylan's connections to African American music and performers, American popular music, the Beats, Christianity, and the revolutions of the 1960s, and more, and offer strategies for incorporating, and analyzing, not only documentaries and films about or featuring Dylan, but also critical and biographical studies on multiple dimensions of an American icon's long and complex career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798765105030
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/03/2024
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Barry J. Faulk is Professor of English at Florida State University, USA. He is the author of British Rock Modernism, 1967-1977 (2013) and Music-hall and Modernity (2004), and he is co-editor, with Brady Harrison, of Punk Rock Warlord: The Life and Work of Joe Strummer (2016).

Brady Harrison is Professor of English at the University of Montana, USA. He is co-editor of Teaching Western American Literature (2020) and co-editor, with Barry J. Faulk, of Punk Rock Warlord: The Life and Work of Joe Strummer (2016).

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Bob Dylan, Teacher
Barry J. Faulk, Florida State University, USA, and Brady Harrison, University of Montana, USA


Part I. Origins & Ways of Making

1. Teaching Bob Dylan's Voice and the Old, Weird America
John Mac Kilgore, Florida State University, USA

2. Bob Dylan and Conceptual Blending
Michael Booth, University College Cork, Ireland


Part II. Dylan & History

3. Teaching the “Revolutions” of the 1960s through Bob Dylan
David R. Shumway, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

4. Bob Dylan and the Expansion of the History Classroom
Court Carney, Stephen F. Austin State University, USA


Part III. Love & Theft

5. Teaching the Gospel
Lauren Onkey, George Washington University, USA

6. The World of Bob Dylan
Gayle Wald, George Washington University, USA

7. Teaching the Roots of Bob Dylan as a Mode of Cultural Self-Reflection in the Classroom: Early Rock and Roll and Hip-Hop
Robert Reginio, Alfred University, USA


Part IV. Dylan & Literary Studies

8. On the Road (Again) with Bob Dylan, A Poet among (Beat) Poets
S.E. Gontarski, Florida State University, USA

9. Mixing Up the Medicine: A Course on Bob Dylan and the Beats
Paul Haney, Emerson College, USA

10. Romances with Durango: Teaching Bob Dylan's Encounter with Mexican Culture
Robert Hurd, Anne Arundel Community College, USA

Part V. Dylan Beyond the Songs

11. Teaching Chronicles
Graley Herren, Xavier University, USA

12. Bob Dylan and Documentary Film
Leigh H. Edwards, Florida State University, USA

Part VI. Afterword

Why Teach Dylan?
Richard F. Thomas, Harvard University, USA

Appendix A: Contributor Syllabi

Appendix B: Course Materials

List of Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

If only I had had this book when I began teaching college courses on Bob Dylan in the 1990s, my job would have been a whole lot easier. An invaluable resource!” —Seth Rogovoy, author of Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet (2009) and Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison (2024)

“It's been a long time since 'Blowin' in the Wind,' but the generational talent of Bob Dylan continues to speak to us of what is past, or passing, or to come. Barry Faulk and Brady Harrison have gathered a range of scholars and educators to consider some of the ways in which Dylan's work can be used to understand modern America in all its diversity and contradiction. The book is wide-ranging, multi-focused, and accessibly written; it also contains a generous archive of sources which can be used to take Dylan's legacy to the next generation. Among all the hagiography and theorization, Teaching Bob Dylan is an essential contribution to Dylan Studies.” —Gerry Smyth, Professor, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

“Teaching Bob Dylan is an essential tool for educators that reinforces the importance of the Humanities. The collection's essays masterfully explain how Dylan's life and work help students engage with, investigate, and understand the complexities of American history and culture and their place in it. Through a multitude of pedagogical approaches, leading Dylan scholars share their experiences and practical lesson plans for readers to adopt or adapt to fit their curriculum and institutional needs. This book is the definitive resource on incorporating Dylan in the classroom.” —Erin C. Callahan, Professor of English, San Jacinto College, Texas, USA, and editor of The Politics and Power of Bob Dylan's Live Performances (2023)

“As a writer, artist, performer, icon, and now Nobel laureate, Bob Dylan is among the most influential figures in modern America, but still we struggle to bring his enigmatic work into our classrooms. This innovative collection gathers an outstanding group of scholar-teachers from different fields and institutions to provide a masterclass on teaching Dylan's music. Sparkling with innovation yet deeply rooted in the contemporary classroom realities, Teaching Bob Dylan not only offers invaluable guidance to teachers, but insists, page-by-page, on the fundamental importance of Dylan's work to our cultural past and future.” —Sean Latham, Walter Professor of English and Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies

From the Publisher