Tarantula

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Summary: Essential for Dylan fans
Review: Dylanophiles have long tired of (..) literary critics saying that Dylan is "not really a poet; this book does something to put the lie to the accusation. It IS poetry, though not in the "conventional" sense. The majority of the book is written in a style of prose poem/poem/prose poem (repeating the cycle for however long the poem is), and then closing the piece with a written letter signed by some character from Dylan's imagination. As you may have surmised, the prose poems are of the type that Dylan wrote for the linear notes to Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. And yes, the poems are in the style of the poems that Dylan wrote for The Times They Are A-Changin' and Another Side. Precious little of it is literal; it is almost wholly written in the rambling, seeming stream-of-consciousness style that Dylan introduced in the aforementioned prose poems. He was highly into writing allegerical fables at that time, and this book abounds in them. Dylan fans will certainly enjoy this book a lot. It gives a peak into his creativity and writing process like nothing else really does. This is Dylan unpolished, not buried beneath the stream of re-writes that produced such masterpieces as "Visions of Johanna." There are references to many of his songs and lyrics within the poetry - whether this came from those, or vice versa, is anyone's guess, but it's a fascinating glimpse into Dylan in any case. You can get something out of these poems. They are fun to read, and have a quick, rolling meter and cadence that all of Dylan's poetic works seem to have, and this makes for interesting and thought-provoking seat-of-the-pants reading. Dylan fans will revel in it. Probably, those who are not already taken with the author will not be converted by this book. This book is actually a less-than-stellar book in the eyes of many (admittedly, by Dylan himself, who held off publishing it for 5 years), and, though interesting and thought-provoking, it is a very ornate and abstract work, without also offering the insights into life that his lyrics have always offered. So the merits of this book for those who are not already Dylan fans is questionable. On the other hand, it is certainly essential for Dylanophiles, and it certainly is a further contribution from Dylan to the field of poetry, and a more legitimate one in the eyes of many. Here's hoping that it helps Bob win the Nobel Prize for Literature that he so geniunely and truly deserves. It is not a cultural opinion, but indeed a fact, that Dylan did more for poetry than anyone else in the 20th century - at least in the sense of bringing it to the masses. And he certainly re-defined popular music as we know it. This book is a further gem in his canon, and helps show a small part of the reason for why Dylan means so much to so many different people.

Rating:
Summary: A real treasure
Review: For the Dylan fan this book is a real treasure just as is his music. Free flowing and thought provoking, you will get out of this what you want to get out of this or what you put into this and nothing more, nothing less...

Once you've aquired the taste for Dylan, this is one good way to quench it.

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Summary: This book takes you all the way down Highway 61
Review: I have been listening to Dylan since I was 16 and although that's only 3 years I am already lost for words as to describe his genius. Since discovering his writing in the sleeve notes to his earlier stuff I was amazed by his writing. Then, I found Tarantula. This adds a whole new dimension to his work as an artist and a poet. I am amazed at how he managed to keep his momentum to finsh the book considering that he was writing it during and after his non-stop touring of the mid 60's which ended, fortunately or unfortunately depending how you look at it, with his accident at Newport. The result is a bizarre use of metaphor and juxtaposition to convey his feelings at that time which pleased me and many others, even if Bob himself wasn't 100% happy with the finished article. Let's get one thing straight however - liking Dylan and appreciating Dylan are two very different things. If you think that Like A Rolling Stone is a classic because of the opening guitar riff then you like Dylan; if you think it's a classic because you understand the imagery in the song then you appreciate Dylan. This book is for the latter.

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Summary: Sorry Bob
Review: I love his songs, I love his lyrics, but Tarantula is basically a bunch of words and really bizarre sotires that do not go anywhere. I kinda expected better from him since his songs were so great.

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Summary: Vintage Bob Dylan, a timeless book from a true genius!
Review: I'm 17 and I've listened to Dylan for about 5 years. Over this period of time I've grown more and more impressed with Dylan's poetic genius. His songs are undoubtedely his claim to fame but I feel that "Tarantula" is the key to understanding his writing. "Tarantula" proves that Dylan was and still is a modern blend of Whitman, Rimbaud, Genet, Ginsberg, Guthrie, and Picasso. "Tarantula's" cut up style has been called "a muddled stream of self conciousness" but I beg to differ. If there has been any writer in our time that has captured the language of our times and helped us examine the world we live in I think it is Dylan. I hope he eventually receives the Nobel Prize for literature that he truly deserves. He is living proof that poetry can touch "the masses", he defies the narrow definition of a poet that ivory tower intellectuals have forced on people for years. The language of Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, albums that changed the way people perceived songs, reaches new heights in "Tarantula".

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Summary: This book takes you even further down highway 61
Review: I've been listening to Dylan since I was 16,(not that long since I'm only 19 now), and have been astounded by his songs. However when I found this book I also found another dimension to his work. His bizarre use of metaphors to convey his feelings are superb, no-one could do it like him. Also, during the 3 years I have been listening to Dylan I have noticed something - liking and appreciating Dylan are two different things. If you think that one of his songs is a classic just because of the the opening guitar riff then you like Dylan; if you think that one of his songs is a classic because you understand the imagery in the song then you appreciate Dylan. This book is for those who appreciate Dylan. Considering it took 2 years to finish and while he was touring I'm amazed that he managed to keep up his momentum all the way through the book.

Rating:
Summary: Go with the flow
Review: It's the best insight one can gain into the mind of a poetic genius. Biographies can explain in prose about what they think is going on with a person; They can even claim to be an expert. But, having listened to this poet's music, read his lyrics, and then have read this book, I have gained, I wont say a complete answer about Dylan, but, I feel where he is coming from, better. The book is very spontaneous and honest! If you want to know about someone, it's great to read something that gives you a hint as to how their mind actually operated. Dylan is Dylan and there will never be anyone to take his place. We can only be inspired by his thoughts, and this book is the most intelligent and interesting event, I have ever read!

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Summary: Tarantula - by Bob Dylan
Review: Possibly the worst book ever written. Self indulgent free associative codswallop from the days when you could get away with it because your readers were stoned

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Summary: Ignore the subtitle ("Poems")
Review: Tarantula is in the stream-of-consciousness style of Dylan's liner notes to Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home. The publisher did our beloved author a great disservice in labeling these writings "Poems." These short pieces - interspersed with pseudo-missives - are literally unbridled prose, brimming with wit, sarcasm and absurdities. Only Dylan can say for sure what they're all about. A poet is not necessarily one who writes rhyming verse, but formlessness is not poetry either. To call Tarantula "poetry" is to turn a blind eye to Dylan's assault on traditional prose narrative forms. That said, I think Tarantula is a great book to have on the shelf, but it's not easy or especially rewarding reading unless one is primarily interested in the author. Because it's Dylan's only book (aside from published lyrics), it's a rather important book. Likewise, Dylan admirers should see D.A. Pennebaker's classic mid-60s Dylan documentary, "Don't Look Back."

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Summary: A Labyrinth with a Bottom [Read This Before Consumption].
Review: Tarantula, Bob Dylan's first and only "novel," is, unquestionably, unlike anything you or I have ever read before--except, of course, the liner notes that accompany his 1965 album, Highway 61 Revisited. Verbally and grammatically it is foreign--there are no periods and no punctuation, save a few sprinkled ellipses and ampersands, showing an overall thought change or something. The first part of the novel, entitled, "Guns, the Falcon's Mouthbook, & Gashcat Unpunished," is as nonsensical--so to speak--as the rest of the book seems to be. The first thought imparted in the novel is the following: "aretha/crystal jukebox queen of hymn & him diffused in drunk transfusion would would heed sweet soundwave crippled & cry salute to oh great particular el dorado reel & ye battered person god but she cannot she she the leader of whom when ye follow, she cannot she has no back she cannot..." So there you go. If that thought does not interest you, and you do not plan to spend any time thinking about, I say, "don't buy this book." If you are not interested in studying Dylan's written word, again, I say, "don't read this book." Though Tarantula is sometimes refuted as nonsensical--a silly game [much as was Joyce's "Finnigan's Wake"]--I don't see how it is possible to write it off as such without devoting to it much time and thought. Sure, if you study this book or Finnigan's Wake for days upon months upon years and can never find any pattern or sagacity in it whatsoever, than you can write it off as nothing. You'd never be able to do that, and I'll try to tell you why [but will probably tire before finishing, so brace yourself]. The thoughts in Tarantula are labyrinthine--one blending into the next with no transition; a thought ending without ever, seemingly, being started. The pages are full of archetypes, events, symbols, and famous figures wandering aimlessly about--no direction, no purpose, but with no meaning, either? The thought processes in Tarantula are very much in line with another of Dylan's poems, Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie--a piece that he wrote in approximately the same time period and which, somehow, seems to explain Tarantula and Highway 61 Revisited: "There's something on your mind you want to be saying, that somebody someplace ought to be hearing. But it's trapped on your tongue and sealed in your head, and it bothers you badly when you're laying in bed. And no matter how you try you just can't say it, and you're scared to your soul you just might forget it."

Whatever it is that Dylan is trying to say, it obviously is very important to him--why would he dedicate one hundred and sixty pages to an idea that he didn't care about? Though I'm not holding that I think that Tarantula is as accessible as his albums are, it seems to me that anyone truly interested in his music would also be interested in his written words. The albums are pared down--split into lines, verses, and songs. Tarantula, however, is split into a few sections, but it is far more "take it as it is" than the albums are, though the layout of Tarantula is similar to the layout of Dylan's albums--sure, if you look at them for a few moments they seem hollow and pretentiously inaccessible--but you must read them and reread them and reread them once more before they start to resemble something you've known or thought of yourself--anything that matters to you. The thoughts that come to you when considering Tarantula are undoubtedly similar to the feeling you get when reading the liner notes of his Highway 61 Revisited after listening to the album--it all interlocks, and you know it and your mind knows it. This is one of the greatest things about Dylan and his writing; Dylan's writings and music are the closest to a literal labyrinth that I've ever seen. He can supply you with a picture, for instance, "Cinderella sweeping a lane," and add as many materially different, but ideologically comparable, portraits as needed to complete one large thought [like "Desolation Row"]--abstract and tangible at the same time--and that's what true intelligence is, yes? This is what "Tarantula" is, this is what "Highway 61 Revisited" is--these are the themes that constitute the bulk of Dylan's memorable work. Unlike the mythical labyrinths that one is stuck in until the end of time and can never emerge from, Dylan's labyrinth is one where each of the proverbial sideways, quarries, and secret passages all lead--however long the journey--to a single point of discernment and, if I may be so bold to say, a real nice place--like heaven or something.