University of Virginia Library

I

The book is many things.
Bits and pieces of the ordinary
and the weird are collected
around two fairly distinct
volumes. These are highly
personal accounts by the
author of two separate
journeys he made to Hibbing,
Minnesota. He was looking for
traces, memories an
associations, of a kid named
Bobby Zimmerman.

This kid grew up and was
famous, and according to
Thompson, returned one time
to his hometown and "...that
hair, and those clothes.
Nobody had ever, I mean it
was spooky the way everyone
spaced right out over this weird
little man. Who came on so
funny, and just happened to be
Bobby Die-Ian."

The scrapbook-journal
method Thompson chose is
well suited to the nature of his
material. Along with the personal
recollections of many
who have known Dylan,
Thompson brings into play his
own strong identity attachment
to "our man." And what
about this Zimmerman?