Refractions of Bob Dylan: Cultural appropriations of an American icon

Refractions of Bob Dylan is a multi-disciplinary set of essays revolving around the routes of Bob Dylan's cultural appropriations. There is, of course, a conscious ambivalence in the notion of cultural appropriation in relation to the work of Bob Dylan. A number of the essays in this book investigate how both Dylan's texts and the cultural formation Dylan have been appropriated in culturally and regionally divergent spheres. When the focus is on Dylan appropriated, translated and refigured, the perspective is less on Dylan than on how and for which purposes he has been used, depending on divergent cultural and regional contexts. Some essays look into Dylan's own appropriations and fusions within his work, image or projection, e.g. the accusations of plagiarism in Love and Theft, Chronicles or the paintings of his recent Asia Series. Related to both approaches, some essays are interested in Dylan's strategies to regain a certain degree of autonomy over the signifier Dylan, or to evade appropriations by others.The collection features analyses of appropriations of Bob Dylan in various European countries and multiple cultural traditions and contexts and discusses various artistic transformations of Dylan and his work in film, music and literature.The contributors include a few of the most noted Dylan scholars such as Michael Gray, Stephen Scobie and Clinton Heylin. Some of the essays collected here originate from the Refractions of Bob Dylan conference in Vienna in 2011. Refractions is aimed at scholars and students of American and Cultural Studies and Dylan fans alike.