American Analogs of Vysotsky

[Laura Kline]

Again, not American, but the Beatles. Or, if just one person, John Lennon,
who also died tragically young.

 

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Sarah Bishop
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 8:04 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] American Analogs of Vysotsky

 

He's not American, but I've used Bob Marley as an analogue to Vysotsky.

 

On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Sentinel76 Astrakhan
<thysentinel at hotmail.com> wrote:

Dear All, I have a question for discussion

In the process of explaining my "Vysotsky in English" project to Americans,
I frequently have to explain who Vysotsky is and what is his place in the
Russian culture.  Many times I have heard the term "Russian Dylan" thrown
around.  In my opinion, there are more differences than similarities.  

Both Vladimir Vysotsky and Bob Dylan were exceptional singer-songwriters,
who rose to fame in the 60s, played guitar, and brought on social change
with their tremendous body of work.  Both wrote highly intelligent and
politically charged poetry.  But in my opinion this is where the
similarities end. 

Vysotsky destroys Dylan in terms of sheer impact and popularity:  even
though both can be reasonably called "Voice of Their Generation," Vysotsky
was also one of five most important cultural figures in 20th Century Russia,
while Dylan never really reached that level. As far as I can tell, Dylan
mostly awed American intellectuals, while Vysotsky was adored by everybody,
from President Brezhnev to the last bum in the street.  And, of course,
Dylan was no match for Vysotsky's performing skills:  Vysotsky would blow
him off the stage without breaking a sweat.  Vysotsky also gets a benefit of
not having the "tail end of a career" that many rock musicians fall victim
to.

Naturally, I think it's wise to limit this discussion to their respective
countries to even the playing field (otherwise, Dylan's English language
makes him far more international than Vysotsky).

So is there anybody in American culture who would match Vysotsky's

a.  Songwriting skills
b.  Performing skills
c.  Success
d.  Cultural status

?

Would it be correct to rank the podium of *relevant* American music as 
(1) Elvis 
(2) Dylan 
(3) Cash?  
Or would Springsteen and Morrison crawl in there somewhere?

What do you think?

Vadim Astrakhan
www.vvinenglish.com

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-- 
Sarah Clovis Bishop

Assistant Professor of Russian

Willamette University

 

sbishop at willamette.edu

503 370 6889

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