Though Bob Dylan’s continued insistence on being vague about whether or not he gave a shit that he had won a Nobel Prize was a lot of fun to joke about, the speech he wrote for the ceremony—as read by Azita Raji, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden—made it clear that Dylan really was deeply honored by the award, even if he didn’t attend the ceremony in person. Now, though, Dylan has made one last impish gesture in the direction of the Nobel committee by announcing his willingness to travel to Sweden for some European tour dates, three of which are on the committee’s own stomping grounds.
This comes from Rolling Stone, which says Dylan will be in Stockholm on April 1 and April 2, and he’ll be in Lund on April 9. Interestingly, there may be more to this trip than just some cheap laughs at the expense of the Nobel Prize people, as the Rolling Stone story notes that Dylan is required to deliver a lecture about his “field of expertise” within six months of winning the award. If he does that, he’ll get the $870,000 bonus that comes with a Nobel Prize, but if not, he’ll presumably have to forfeit the money. That means this is the true test of just how much this thing means to him, since giving some kind of lecture about literature and songwriting while in Sweden would require very little actual work. (Unless he just doesn’t need the money, in which case he should just forget about it and enjoy Stockholm.)