Robert „Bob” Dylan is an American singer-writer, author and an artist who has been a very important

figure in culture for more than five decades. With his summer hit „Like a Rolling Stone” released in
1965, Bob became world-renowned. In 2016, Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature for having
created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. It is said that there are no
artists that have had a greater impact on lyrical language in our times than Bob Dylan. By many, he is
called the Bard of the Age or even the rock and roll Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was a poet, who was able to create art from the most populist entertainment form.
Dylan is compared to him because his work is described as the most ubiquitous, dynamic, world-
shaking and inescapable popular entertainment form of our own „Elizabethan Age”. Dylan is
considered to be the best lyrical songsmith in the world as he elevated the pop song as high as any
other form of human expression. He has been creating art and it has been a very literary form of art.

Bob Dylan presents various styles of writing, the example being classic songs such as Knocking on
Heaven’s Door, songs of narrative and reportage that paint epic cinematic pictures like Hurricane and
the Lonesome Death of Hattie Caroll, songs that are abstract like Subterranean Homesick Blues.
There are also gospel, country, blues, and comedy songs or even songs having no parallel in popular
music – for instance, an epic „Like a Rolling Stone”.

Plenty of poets, novelists regularly praise him, because his work has a huge impact and vast reach in
such inescapable form that touched the whole world. He is said to be a great poet in the great
English tradition. He is an amazing traditionalist, in a surprisingly original way. He is the master not
only in the written tradition but also the oral one, both – in high and low literature.

The book “Tipping the Velvet” by Sarah Waters is the story of Nan King’s fascinating journey from
Whitstable to London. Briefly speaking, this book tells the story about the transformation from an
oyster girl to a music hall star. Tipping the Velvet describes discovering Nan’s body, her identity, and
sexuality. It is a bildungsroman, in which we spot Nan’s change of world, life and rebuilding herself.

Themes that appear in Water's book are sexuality, lesbian practices in late Victorian England, gender
identity, class, and social inequality. There is also a description of prostitution, love, longing, and fear.
The whole story is about coming out, feeling good in your own skin, the sex is an integral part of the
plot. Except the topics connected with sex and sexuality, the author shows the problem of poverty,
describes rituals of visitation, gift giving, tea time, differences in behaviour and looks between the
poor and the rich. This story definitely shows that finding mature love and happiness requires
sometimes a long and convoluted path to take.