After more than two weeks of ducked questions, radio silence, and at least one deleted post on his own website, Bob Dylan has finally given in and accepted that he’s the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. Earlier today, the Nobel Foundation posted a brief note on its site, quoting Dylan as saying, “If I accept the prize? Of course,” during a recent phone conversation with the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. He also said the “news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless,” which may or may not be a joke about how long it took him to respond to the Foundation’s calls, because with Bob Dylan, that sort of thing can be pretty hard to tell.
Of course, just because Dylan gives a straight answer on one thing, doesn’t mean he’ll be clear about anything else; the Foundation’s release also notes that no one there is sure if Dylan will attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in person to pick up his prize from Sweden’s king. He did recently tell The Telegraph that he intended to be there, saying, “absolutely. If it’s at all possible,” during a longer interview touching on his reaction to the news.