DONT LOOK BACK
Since before he had achieved any notable degree of fame Bob Dylan the person has been a pretty obscure figure, well hidden behind the artistic poses and put ons which served to define Dylan the pop culture hero. Two books continually available attempt to clarify and define the unknown element that is Dylan and, though they both fail at really doing this, and for pretty much the same reason, both are good books that together come extremely close to breaking through the poses just by showing how Dylan uses, them to protect himself.
The first of the book to appear was Bob Dylan by Donald Kramer, It is basically a photo essay covering a period of about a year and a half with the text serving to explain the settings of each set of photographs and to provide what | ever insights about his subject that Kramer can explain with words. These consist mainly of descriptions of Dylan’s reactions to slightly unusual situations. But, despite Kramers strong desire to illuminate neither any individual story nor all them taken together gives you any deep insight into the character of Dylan. In fact the most illuminating bit of information Kramer provides in the text, is the clear realization that he was not a regular member of Dylans circle of friends just hanging around and taking pictures of things that interest him but rather an outside photographer, who was around pretty much only when he made prior arrangements to be there so that his presence was always that of someone who was trying to delve into Dylan’s personality with his camera in order to reveal it to the public. And his photographs reflect this.
Taken on their merits as photographs they are masterful. Kramer is an excellent photographer with a perceptive eye and Dylan is an excellent model but that the hand up. Dylan is always posing never being caught unawares. He is only seen as he wants to be seen, posing, clowning, playing at being Bob Dylan pop star. So don’t buy the book to learn secrets about Dylan but by all means buy it (especially, if you can find it, the large format edition).
