Bob Dylan in His Early Years　:　The Reinvention of Personal and Artistic Identity

tradition," becoming the first creative artist working in the field of popular music to be recognized with the worlds most prestigious honor for literary achievement (Nobel 2016).The reactions that appeared on social media and news outlets suggested that after some six decades of dealing with his work and his ever-present but constantly transforming persona, the world was mostly ready to relent and grant the 75-year singer-songwriter this recognition.Over the years, Dylan had received countless honorary degrees, industry, cultural, and civic awards, and he had amassed a personal fortune of several hundred million dollars as a result of record sales, copyright fees, touring income, and sales of merchandise including books of lyrics.In 2004, Dylan also became a best-selling author of non-fiction with the publication of his memoir ( ).The inescapable question for anyone who wishes to explore the work of Dylan is "Which Bob Dylan?"As social critic and music historian Greil Marcus has commented about the works of Dylan in the 1960s, "The music carried an aura of familiarity, of unwritten traditions, and as deep a sense of recognition