Was Jonah Lehrer basically right about Dylan claiming he was giving up music?

Before Lehrer's downfall, I skimmed the bit about Dylan coming back from the '66 tour. Vowing to give up music for novels seemed plausible, given his frustration, well-documented (in documentaries even). Pretty sure No Direction Home ends w Scorsese and Charlie Rose chuckling about young D. swearing he'd never tour again, then ending up on Endless Tour. So, despite all the opposites of amputations, was Lehrer basically right?

no

yes

no.

don't understand the question

outlook good

lol am0n

don't understand the question Michael Moynihan, the self-described Dylan nerd whose queries panicked Lehrer into lying and confessing, has said in radio interviews that every public utterance of Dylan is enshrined somewhere--so is there any evidence that Dylan did seriously consider giving up music for writing novels, re Lehrer's fake quotes?

in other words please do my homework for me

http://expectingrain.com/dok/cd/2001/romeinterview.html2001 Dylan interview, discussing his book "Tarantula", written in '65-66

Things were happening wildly in that period. I never had any
intention of writing a book. I had a manager who was asked: he writes
all those songs, what else does he write? Maybe he writes books. And
he must have replied: obviously, sure he writes books, in fact we're
just about to publish one. I think it was on that occassion that he
made the deal and then I had to write the book. He often did things
like that.

he says in chronicles: "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race."
but the motorcycle accident took place in the summer of 1966, and he was definitely recording music w/ the Band and writing songs by early 1967 (maybe even earlier). So ... did he consider giving up music? maybe, but not for long. even if those years (67-74) are seen as "reclusive" since he wasn't touring, he still was making records at a steady clip.

well, there's a 3-year gap between '70 and '73

which is too bad cuz in general that's my favorite period of music and I wish Dylan had been in the mix then more

Lehrer sez D comes back from the 66 tour, swears off, goes to a cabin in the woods to write novels--and then songs come out, like "vomiting." "Like A Rolling Stone" the breakthrough. That sounds wrong to Moyhihan, who thinks breakthrough was on Bringing It All Back Home. So he contacts Lehrer, and that's how the breakdown begins.

Lehrer sez D comes back from the 66 tour, swears off, goes to a cabin in the woods to write novels--and then songs come out, like "vomiting." "Like A Rolling Stone" the breakthrough.
hmm well then this is just plain wrong.

at least he's got the chronology all wrong -- Dylan wrote Like A Rolling Stone in mid-65.

the National Review review of Lehrer's book (printed pre-fiasco and linked on some other thread) pretty thoroughly demolishes Lehrer's sequence of events. it's just wrong from start to finish

lol I mean the New Republic

here

The reason for dwelling at length on Lehrer’s consideration of Dylan is that almost everything in the chapter—from the minor details to the larger argument—is inaccurate, misleading, or simplistic. The small stuff is less important: Dylan did not go upstate immediately after his English tour—he went away with his first wife ... Dylan’s time away, moreover, lasted only several days. Lehrer’s ridiculous implication is that Dylan took no other similarly short breaks in his life, but he does not make any effort to back up his assumption.

etc

yeah his English tour ended in spring 65 and he was touring/recording hard from june til may the next year.
weird -- doesn't even seem like it's in-depth dylanology or anything. just makin' up stuff about one of the most famous dudes' most famous songs.

it's like he took a bunch of received wisdom and half-remembered details and made up a cute little theory out of them

you know, every lie has a grain of truth*

*not true

Good points, thanks. I'm more interested in whether he really did try other forms of writing in a concerted way, whether there's any evidence of this.
In the pre-Net era (the preceding X billion years), I saw passing mention in a zine of a play typescript he left behind in the attic of his upstate NY house. Auctioned off--winning bidder: David Crosby, who prob smoked it. Something like "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald," although I think somebody else has done that, hey great minds etc (like what if Lee Harvey had survived to testify etc) Who knows if this is true...blaming Tarantula on his dead manager seems seems pretty convenient. Chronicles was mostly excellent, and he seemed to enjoy writing it--any recent word on Chronicles II?