“Bob Dylan’s appropriation of material from Junichi Saga’s ‘Confessions of a Yakuza,’ first published in 1989 and translated into English in ’91, isn’t merely another tale of purloined text (see Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jayson Blair, et al.). It’s a fascinating study in artistic process and influence. The path from a forthrightly anecdotal history of a professional Japanese gambler to a set of elusive, emotionally turbulent songs set in the American South is steep and mysteriously twisted.”