The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan

The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan is a book published in 2009 by Cambridge University Press intended to analyze the work of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It is the fourth book of Cambridge Companion to American Studies. This book is edited by Kevin J. Dettmar and contains seventeen essays, each written by a different person.

The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan

Cover of the paperback edition
Author	Multiple authors
Subject	Music Of Bob Dylan
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Publication date	February 19, 2009 (1st edition)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages	204 pp
ISBN	0-521-71494-X (1st edition, paperback)

The whole book is divided in two sections. The first one ("Perspectives"), containing nine essays, attempts to describe different sides of Dylan's work. The next section ("Landmark Albums") describes eight landmark Dylan albums. The collection includes contributions from Michael Denning, David Yaffe, Anthony DeCurtis, Alan Light, R. Clifton Spargo, novelist Jonathan Lethem and musician Carrie Brownstein.

Reception

Kieran Curran of PopMatters gave the book 5 stars out of 10, and stated: "it's an interesting read for the academically inclined budding Dylanologist [...], even if it is lacking in a pop musicology sense. For the unconverted to Dylan though, there would be no point in picking this up – every essay is built upon the assumption that Dylan is worthy of extended proselytising."^[1]