Tarantula by Bob Dylan

About the Book

Bob Dylan's only fictional book, Tarantula was written in 1966 during the creative peak that produced Blonde on Blonde. Reminiscent of Dylan's best songs, it is essential reading for anyone interested in his creative processes.

Initial publication was repeatedly delayed, and Tarantula circulated for years only as a 'bookleg' photocopied from reviewers' advance proofs. Fittingly, perhaps, because this is a book that captures the tone and spirit of the turbulent times in which it was written.

The alternating poems and prose in Tarantula also echo the artistic concerns we find in Dylan's contemporary songs: a sense of protest, a verbal playfulness and spontaneity, and a belief in the legitimacy of the street with all its colourful life as a subject.