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One would not anticipate a conventional memoir from Bob Dylan--indeed, one would not have foreseen an autobiography at all from the pen of the notoriously private legend. What Chronicles: Volume 1 delivers is an odd but ultimately illuminating memoir that is as impulsive, eccentric, and inspired as Dylan's greatest music.

Eschewing chronology and skipping over most of the "highlights" that his many biographers have assigned him, Dylan drifts and rambles through his tale, amplifying a series of major and minor epiphanies. If you're interested in a behind-the-scenes look at his encounters with the Beatles, look elsewhere. Dylan describes the sensation of hearing the group's "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on the radio, but devotes far more ink to a Louisiana shopkeeper named Sun Pie, who tells him, "I think all the good in the world might already been done" and sells him a World's Greatest Grandpa bumper sticker. Dylan certainly sticks to his own agenda--a newspaper article about journeymen heavyweights Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis and soul singer Joe Tex's appearance on The Tonight Show inspire heartfelt musings, and yet the 1963 assassination of John Kennedy prompts nary a word from the era's greatest protest singer.

For all the small revelations (it turns out he's been a big fan of Barry Goldwater, Mickey Rourke, and Ice-T), there are eye-opening disclosures, including his confession that a large portion of his recorded output was designed to alienate his audience and free him from the burden of being a "the voice of a generation."

Off the beaten path as it is, Chronicles is nevertheless an astonishing achievement. As revelatory in its own way as Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61 Revisited, it provides ephemeral insights into the mind one of the most significant artistic voices of the 20th century while creating a completely new set of mysteries. --Steven Stolder

鲍勃·迪伦，20世纪的摇滚教父，跨时代的文化偶像。1941年出生于美国明尼苏达州的希宾，20多年以后，成了60年代世界反主流文化的主将。“传奇、偶像、谜…… 这类称号或者诚心实意，或者无关痛痒，或者老生常谈，拈来用之，还算轻易。但先知、基督、救星等等头衔，就不是闹着玩的了。”鲍勃•迪伦却也确实称得起所有这些头衔，他是先知，是基督，是救星。他孕育了年轻一代的梦想、反抗和希望。他有力地呐喊对旧世界的否决。他赋予他那个时代某种自由的理念。他所塑造的新神话至今仍影响着我们。鲍勃•迪伦，既是享乐又是清醒，既是流行音乐又是哲学，既标新立异又寻根守底。是的，正是他，凭借着几首歌，创造了二十世纪的六十年代。《像一块滚石》、《答案在风中飘荡》、《手鼓先生》、《政治世界》、《重访61号公路》等作品，不仅确立了迪伦在摇滚音乐史的教父级地位，也奠定了他作为20世纪伟大诗人的身份。