Bob Dylan: Spider

Written in 1966, "Tarantula" is a collection of poems and prose that evokes the turmoil of the era in which they were written, and offers a unique insight into Dylan's creative evolution.

"The Good Samaritan is coming with 'round and go' tattooed on his cheek / Asking the Senator to stop insulting the lawyer."

"Tarantula" captures the preoccupations of Bob Dylan at a crucial juncture in his artistic development, displaying the eccentric imagination of an award-winning folk poet who was able to combine the humanity and compassion of his rural roots with the playful surrealism of modern art. Angry, funny, and grotesque, the poems and prose in this collection reflect the preoccupations found in Dylan's most influential work: a sense of protest, verbal playfulness and spontaneity, and a belief in the artistic legitimacy of documenting everyday life and the strangeness of the street. "Tarantula" was not published in the fall of 1966. Along with the delays caused by Dylan's constant revisions, it was complicated by the further complications of his motorcycle accident—which left him with undisclosed injuries and delayed the book's publication until 1971. Meanwhile, the book had become a cult phenomenon, with copies of it, photocopied from reviewers' copies, circulating throughout the musical and literary world. Reissued to coincide with the paperback release of *Chronicles Volume One*, Tarantula's book will finally find the wider audience it deserves.