各位晚上好。 我向瑞典學院的成員和今晚出席宴會的所有尊貴的客人致以最熱烈的問候。

很抱歉，我沒能與你們在一起，但請知道，在精神上，我絕對與你們同在，很榮幸獲得了這么一個有聲望的獎。 被授予諾貝爾文學獎，是我從來不敢想象或預見到的事情。從小，我就熟悉、閱讀并受益于那些被認為值得獲得該項殊榮的人的作品：吉卜林、托馬斯·曼、賽珍珠、加繆、海明威這些文學巨人總是給人深刻的印象，他們的作品在學校課堂上被教授，被收藏在世界各地的圖書館，被人們用虔誠的語調談論著�，F在我加入這樣的名列，真的難以言說。

我不知道這些男人和女人們是否曾經想過自己能夠獲得諾貝爾文學獎，但我想，在這個世界的任何地方，任何寫過一本書、一首詩、或是一部戲劇的人，在內心深處都會擁有這么一個秘密的夢想。這個夢想被埋藏得太深，他們甚至都不知道它在那里。

有人曾告訴我，我不可能獲得諾貝爾獎，我也不得不認為這個幾率與我站在月球上的幾率相同。事實上，在我出生的那一年和隨后的幾年，世界上沒有一個人被認為優秀得可以贏得諾貝爾獎。所以，我認為，至少可以說，我現在屬于這個非常少數的群體。

收到這個令人驚訝的消息時，我正在路上。我花了好幾分鐘才確定它沒錯。我開始回想起威廉·莎士比亞這位偉大的文學人物。我估計他認為自己是一個劇作家。他正在寫文學作品的這個想法不太可能進入他的腦子。他的文字是為舞臺而寫，是用來說的，而不是閱讀的。當他在寫《哈姆雷特》的時候，我確信他在思考很多不同的事情：“誰是這些角色的合適的演員？ “這應該怎樣演出來？”“我真的想把這場戲設置在丹麥嗎？”他的創造性的想象與野心毫無疑問是他最需要思考的東西，但也有很多平庸的問題需要考慮和處理。 “融資到位了嗎？”“我的觀眾有足夠的好座位嗎？”“我在哪里可以弄到人類的頭骨？”

我敢打賭，在莎士比亞的頭腦中最不需要考慮的事情是：“這是文學嗎？”

當我還是一個剛開始寫歌的少年時，甚至當我開始因為我的能力而取得一定知名度時，我對這些歌曲的愿望也不過如此。我希望它們能夠在咖啡館或是酒吧聽到，后來也許有像卡內基音樂廳，倫敦Palladium這樣的地方。 如果我的夢想再大一點，也許就是我希望能制作唱片，在收音機里聽到我的歌。那是當時我心中的大獎。制作唱片、在收音機聽到你的歌，因為你可以獲得很多聽眾，這樣你也許就可以繼續做你已經開始做的事情。

當然，現在，很長時間以來我一直在做我起初想要做的事情。在世界各地，我已經制作了幾十張唱片，舉行了幾千場音樂會。 不過，我的歌曲才幾乎是我做的所有事情的中心。它們似乎在不同文化的許多人的生活中找到了一個位置，我非常感謝。

但我必須說，作為一個表演者，我為50000人表演過，也為50人表揚過。我可以告訴你，為50人表演更難，因為5萬人會形成一個單一人格，但50人不會。每個人都是一個個體，有獨立的身份，一個自己的世界，他們可以更清楚地感知事物。你的誠實，以及它如何與你的天賦的深度相關聯會受到考驗。 諾貝爾委員會這么小，我沒有忽略這個事實。

但就像莎士比亞，我也經常忙于努力追求創造性和處理生活所有方面的平庸事情。“誰是這些歌曲最好的音樂家？“我在合適的錄音室錄音嗎？“這首歌的調子正確嗎？”有些事情永遠不會改變，即使在400年后。

我從來沒有時間問自己一次：“我的歌是文學嗎？”

所以，我真的感謝瑞典學院，既花時間考慮這個問題，并最終提供這樣一個美妙的答案。

給大家獻上我最好的祝福。

鮑勃·迪倫

演講英文全文：

Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.

I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming. From an early age, I've been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.

I don't know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It's probably buried so deep that they don't even know it's there.

If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few years after, there wasn't anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least.

I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn't have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, I'm sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: "Who're the right actors for these roles?" "How should this be staged?" "Do I really want to set this in Denmark?" His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. "Is the financing in place?" "Are there enough good seats for my patrons?" "Where am I going to get a human skull?" I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare's mind was the question "Is this literature?"

When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big, maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio. That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.

Well, I've been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I've made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it's my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I'm grateful for that.

But there's one thing I must say. As a performer I've played for 50,000 people and I've played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on me.

But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life's mundane matters. "Who are the best musicians for these songs?" "Am I recording in the right studio?" "Is this song in the right key?" Some things never change, even in 400 years.

Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, "Are my songs literature?"

So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.

My best wishes to you all,

Bob Dylan