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<p>COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) &#8212; A member of the Swedish Academy that awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to Bob Dylan says the American singer-songwriter&#8217;s silence since receiving the honor is &#8220;impolite and arrogant.&#8221;</p><p>Per Wastberg said Dylan&#8217;s lack of reaction to the honor the academy bestowed on him last week was predictable, but disrespectful nonetheless.</p><p>&#8220;One can say that it is impolite and arrogant. He is who he is,&#8221; Wastberg was quoted as saying in Saturday&#8217;s edition of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.</p><p>Wastberg said the academy still hopes to communicate with the 75-year-old artist, whose Nobel credits him with creating &#8220;new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We have agreed not to lift a finger. The ball lies entirely on his half,&#8221; Wastberg told the newspaper. &#8220;You can speculate as much as you want but we don&#8217;t.&#8221; He was not immediately available for comments.</p><p>The academy said it has failed to reach the tight-lipped laureate since he became the first musician in the Nobel&#8217;s 115-year history to win the prize in literature. The award was mentioned on Dylan&#8217;s official Twitter and Facebook accounts.</p><p>The literature prize and five other Nobel Prizes will be officially conferred in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel&#8217;s death in 1896.</p><p>Literature laureates have skipped the ceremony before. In 2004, Austrian playwright and novelist Elfriede Jelinek stayed home, citing a social phobia.</p><p>Harold Pinter and Alice Munro missed the ceremony for health reasons in 2005 and 2013, respectively.</p><p>Only two people have declined a Nobel Prize in literature. Boris Pasternak did so under pressure from Soviet authorities in 1958 and Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined all official honors, turned it down in 1964.</p><p>Although Dylan has not commented publicly on winning the Nobel, privacy and the price of fame have been themes in his music.</p><p>It&#8217;s easy to read a response to Wastberg&#8217;s remarks in the 1981 song, &#8220;The Groom&#8217;s Still Waiting at The Altar.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery,&#8221; part of the lyrics say. &#8220;Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your silence for snobbery.&#8221;</p><p>Each of this year&#8217;s Nobel Prizes is worth 8 million Swedish kronor, or about $930,000.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">This July 22, 2012, file photo shows U.S. singer-songwriter Bob Dylan performing onstage at &quot;Les Vieilles Charrues&quot; Festival in Carhaix, western France. Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature, announced Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/David Vincent, File)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_AP16287399695282-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>This July 22, 2012, file photo shows U.S. singer-songwriter Bob Dylan performing onstage at &quot;Les Vieilles Charrues&quot; Festival in Carhaix, western France. Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature, announced Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/David Vincent, File)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By JAN M. OLSEN</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Nobel academy member calls Bob Dylan’s silence ‘arrogant’