"For there is no friend like a sister"

In 2016, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Dylan explained, in his Nobel Laureate lecture, that his songs are not closet dramas, existing only on the page, but were meant to be heard. In this episode, my dear friend and guest, Dr. Jessica Goodfellow, and I explore the ways that poetic expressions can speak and be heard through close readings of his lyrics, adding our threads to the tapestry of literary analysis of Dylan’s words. Dr. Goodfellow and I discuss her impressive work as an educator and Victorian and Neo-Victorian scholar and concepts like redemption, sin, suffering, and the portrayals of women in the works of Christina Rossetti and Bob Dylan. This rich and textured discussion reveals parallel imagery, use of language, and allusion in Rossetti’s and Dylan’s work as they speak to the challenges and triumphs of human existence.

Jessica Shafer Goodfellow is a Professor of English and Humanities at San Jacinto College (Pasadena, TX). She holds a PhD in English from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MA in English Literature from The University of Virginia. Her scholarly interests focus on performative educational practices and their effects on gender in Victorian and neo-Victorian literature. More generally, she studies nineteenth-century British literature and YA literature.