O O O O That Dylanesque Rag

      Wow: James Wolcott has issued a devastating review of Christopher Ricks' new study of the lyrics of Bob Dylan, concluding that "the nicest thing that can be said about Christopher Ricks's book is that it means well and won't hurt anybody."   Ouch.   Given the snippets that are included in Wolcott's review, I can see why he's so hostile to the book (with Ricks seeming very often to launch into Joycean indulgence), but Wolcott seems too to have his own axe to grind from the outset.   As the truism goes, academic debate is always so intense because the stakes are so small.