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Bob Dylan Gives A Last-Minute Nobel Lecture To Make $900,000

After Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, he almost missed the six-month deadline to give his required lecture.

By: Ryan Biek

Posted at 5:39 PM, Jun 06, 2017

and last updated 2017-06-06 17:39:09-04

With 4,000 words, Bob Dylan secured almost $900,000 for himself.

The singer-songwriter gave the world his Nobel lecture on Monday — he just waited until the last minute to do it.

According to Nobel Prize rules, winners' lectures are due within six months of their official ceremony. Otherwise, they don't get the prize money.

After officially being awarded the literature prize in December, Dylan waited until about a week before the deadline to record his lecture. And with that, the Swedish Academy's permanent secretary said, "The Dylan adventure is coming to a close."

Part of that adventure has been the controversy surrounding Dylan's win: Do his lyrics really count as literature?

A large part of Dylan's speech tried to address that.

He said some of the greatest influences on his lyrics were books he read growing up — mainly "Moby-Dick," "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "The Odyssey."

He said: "Songs are unlike literature. They're meant to be sung, not read."

Dylan ended his speech pointing to Homer, widely considered the founder of Western literature, who said "Sing in me, oh Muse, and through me tell the story."