Abstract

In this fine collection, Bob Dylan at 80, Gary Browning and Constantine Sandis have curated a book which is Janus-faced. It develops a simple premise, to reflect on the career of Dylan and the multitudes it contains, yet it is deeply complex and expansive in its scope. The book concerns a singular subject, Dylan, yet a subject which cannot be contained by singularity. It is a short text, yet it takes the reader on a long journey. The Roman god Janus is an apt metaphor for Dylan, for he was the god of doorways, transitions, beginnings, and endings, who looked simultaneously to the future and the past. Dylan’s body of work represents all this and more, and Dylan at 80 captures this acutely with vigour and verve.