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By Bill Altreuter

The poetics of place and displacement in the songs of Bob Dylan. Richard Elliott argues that there is a tension between "recognizable locations... which are... crucial to the ability of his audience to identify with the texts",and the use of "displacement techniques and refusal of a fixed identity". It would be interesting to contrast this concept in Dylan's work with the way the same dynamic between place and displacement works in the songs of Lucinda Williams, I think. Blood on the Tracks and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road are similar albums in a number of ways, even as to the complex back-stories surrounding the recording process for both; the Dylan side seems more about displacement and the Williams set more about place, but I think a closer look might flip that perception.

Full post as published by Outside Counsel on April 29, 2010 (boomark / email).