Leonard Cohen’s Love Of Books

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4 years ago

You may know Leonard Cohen for his deep, enchanting music&period; His voice draws you in, and his lyrics are soulful and meaningful&period; But on top of his wildly successful musical career, Cohen has made a name for himself in the literary world as a poet and a novelist&period; It’s time we take a look at the thought-provoking literature of Leonard Cohen, winner of the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for literature&period;&NewLine;Cohen began publishing his poems while attending McGill University in Montreal as an English major at the young age of 17&period; During his time at McGill, he was the president of the McGill Debating Union, further sharpening his verbal skills&period; Cohen’s first poems were published in the literary magazine, CIV/n in 1954&period; Despite his mediocre grades, Cohen earned the McNaughton Prize in creative writing during his collegiate years&period;&NewLine;It didn’t take long after graduating for Leonard Cohen to continue his work in literature&period; Only a year after his graduation in 1955, his first book of poetry was published&period; Entitled Let Us Compare Mythologies, it contains mostly poems Cohen had written during his time at McGill&period; It was published by Louis Dudek, as a part of the McGill Poetry Series&period; The book didn’t sell exceptionally well, although it did get wonderful critical reviews&period;&NewLine;<img class="aligncenter" src="http&colon;//www&period;mtvhive&period;com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/leonard-cohen-press-photo-1970-640x310&period;jpg" alt="Leonard Cohen’s Love Of Books" width="500" height="242" />&NewLine;Not long after his first book came out, Leonard Cohen wrote his second book of poetry&period; The Spice Box of Earth was published in 1961&period; This collection did much better than the first, as it sold successfully and brought Cohen into the public eye&period;&NewLine;Along with poetry, Leonard Cohen also tried his talented hand in writing novels&period; He relocated to Greece in the 1960s, where he had a home on the Greek island, Hydra&period; Here, he continued to write poetry, as well as fiction novels&period; It was in Greece that Cohen wrote and published his first novel The Favourite Game&period; This novel, originally entitled Beauty at Close Quarters is an autobiographical piece about a man who, through writing, discovers himself&period; It took a while for this masterpiece to get published, as it was rejected in Canada&period; It hit English shelves in 1963, and American shelves in 1964&period;&NewLine;Along with The Favourite Game, Cohen also wrote his second and final novel, Beautiful Losers, which was published in 1966&period; This deep novel includes themes of suicide, love triangles, radicalism, and sexuality&period; Though it was reflective of the ages, the book wasn’t immediately popular, and it didn’t sell well&period; However, in later years, when Leonard Cohen became famous for his music, the novel gained popularity, and it is considered a pillar in Canadian literature&period;&NewLine;After Cohen’s lack of initial public success with Beautiful Losers, he began focusing more on songwriting&period; He published a few more works, including his novel, Death of a Lady&&num;8217&semi;s Man, as well as a collection of poetry, Book of Mercy&period; With fewer works of literature being published, Cohen let his talent show more and more through his music&period; He may have moved away from writing in recent years, but his mastery of the written word still lives on in libraries and bookshelves everywhere&period;&NewLine;This article was written by Mahee Ferlini, a Leonard Cohen connoisseur&period;&NewLine;