Dylan and Proust
The other night I was reading Dan Simmons' new book, Illium. In it are two characters, robots from the far future who are obsessed with classical literature; one is a real Shakespeare fan, the other is devoted to Proust. Simmons included a short quote from Proust's Swann in Love, which made me sit up:
And with the old, intermittent cadishness which reappeared in him when he was no longer unhappy and his moral standards dropped accordingly, he exclaimed to himself: "To think that I've wasted years of my life, that I've longed to die, that I've experienced my greatest love, for a woman who didn't appeal to me, who wasn't even my type." [from the C.K. Scott Moncrief translation, page 415, the very last page]
Of course Dylan fans will recognize one line immediately. Things Have Changed includes this verse:
I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me
Cool! The entire paragraph from Swann's way is amazing (I have a copy of the book around, but I haven't read it), as is the entirety of Dylan's verse (and song).
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