Dylan’s Nobel Prize mention deleted from his website

The fallout from Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize in Literature has taken a strange turn: The Jewish folk singer’s website has taken down its only brief mention of the award.

Dylan has not acknowledged the award at any of his performances in the week since the Nobel committee’s Oct. 13 announcement that it had awarded him the prize, but his website made one allusion to it this week on a page promoting a new collection of his lyrics, “The Lyrics: 1961: 2012.” The page on bobdylan.com simply called him the “winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.”

As of Friday morning, the reference had been erased without explanation.

The Swedish Academy has tried and failed multiple times to contact Dylan through close associates of his since the award announcement. Sara Danius, the Nobel academy’s secretary, told Swedish radio on Monday that the academy has given up attempting to contact him and could not confirm whether he would attend the award ceremony in Stockholm on Nov. 10.

Numerous publications have noted that celebrities often do not control the content of their public websites, so it is conceivable that Dylan had no input about the award’s mention on his site.

Dylan, 75, is the first artist seen primarily as a songwriter to win the award, a fact that has stirred a divisive debate in literary circles. Some writers, such as the poets Amy King and Danniel Schoonebeek, have called for him to turn down the award.

The American troubadour has responded with silence since he won the prize.

He gave a concert in Las Vegas on the night he won the prize last Thursday, but made no mention of the accolade. His 90-minute performance included several well-known songs, with the 1960’s anthem “Blowin’ in the Wind” drawing an especially enthusiastic response. But the star focused solely on the business of making music and he did not bring up the coveted award.

Every December 10, Nobel prize winners are invited to Stockholm to receive their awards from King Carl XVI Gustaf and to give a speech during a banquet.

The Swedish Academy still does not know if Dylan plans to come to the event.

“If he doesn’t want to come, he won’t come. It will be a big party in any case and the honor belongs to him,” said Danius.

Dylan, 75, whose lyrics have influenced generations of fans, is the first songwriter to win the literature prize.

The Swedish Academy cited the American musician for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

Dylan had been mentioned in the Nobel speculation for years, but few experts expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as popular music.