Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Reading for meaning

Leonard Cohen: A Remarkable LifeLeonard Cohen: A Remarkable Life by Anthony Reynolds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have complete sympathy for those who commented on the remarkable number of editing issues in this book, but I persevered and such issues almost disappeared in the second half. Given that the author is something of a poetry aficionado, and thus presumably a person who cares about words, I am left thinking that perhaps the issue is not one of poor editing (although I still think it is), but one of ‘style’.

With that out of the way, I really enjoyed this book. Although it goes off into details that were sometimes irrelevant to my interests, the long list of interviews used as background for the project provide a wealth of information about Cohen, of course, but also about the various milieux in which he moved over a very long period of time.

As for Cohen himself, he comes across as a charming, kind and generous man who was dedicated to his vision. Perhaps his achievement of idol status among the bourgeoisie of the Western world has something to do with their / our admiration for a rather solitary man who does what he likes, when he likes, in pursuit of that vision.

Thus in speaking of his years of activities at the Zen retreat at Mt Baldy, Reynolds notes that Cohen would get up before the prescribed 3.00am in order to have a coffee and a couple of cigarettes. That suggests a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to Zen. On the other hand, he seems to have understood the main idea; after his five year stint on the mountain, Cohen notes that ‘One of the goals of the activities is to discard the goal’.

So who is Leonard Cohen?

Fittingly, Cohen himself gets the final word. Reynolds finished the book with this quote from the great man himself, written on Hydra in the early days:

In my journey I know I am somewhere beyond the travelling pack of poets
I am a man of tradition
I will remain here until I am sure of what I am leaving





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