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Book of Longing

Book of Longing

Book of Longing Hardback - 2006

by Leonard Cohen

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
Used - Near Fine

Description

McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2006. 4th hardcover printing. Condition: Near fine, book and dust jacket have light edge wear, light corner bumps.

Leonard Cohen was one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Book of Longing was Cohen's eagerly awaited new collection of poems, following his highly acclaimed 1984 title, Book of Mercy, and his hugely successful 1993 publication, Stranger Music, a Globe and Mail national bestseller.

Book of Longing contains erotic, playful, and provocative line drawings and artwork on every page, by the author, which interact in exciting and unexpected ways on the page with poetry that is timeless, meditative, and at times darkly humorous. The book brings together all the elements that have brought Leonard Cohen's artistry with language worldwide recognition.
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Details

  • Title Book of Longing
  • Author Leonard Cohen
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition 4th printing
  • Condition Used - Near Fine
  • Pages 240
  • Language EN
  • Publisher McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, ON
  • Date 2006
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 202001258
  • ISBN 9780771022340
  • Weight 0.00 lbs (0.00 kg)

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Summary

Book of Longing is Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since Book of Mercy was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present, and also includes his wonderfully witty and sensuous illustrations, including numerous playful self-portraits. The illustrations interact with, and complement, the poetry in unexpected and fascinating ways. Book of Longing demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language and visual art that speak with rare clarity, passion and timelessness.

From the publisher

Leonard Cohen's artistic career began in 1956 with the publication of Let Us Compare Mythologies. Since then, he has published eleven books, including two novels, The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966), and, most recently, Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs (1993). He has -made seventeen albums, the latest being Dear Heather (2004). Numerous tribute albums, in many languages, have celebrated his songs.

Excerpt

IRVING AND ME AT THE HOSPITAL

He stood up for Nietzsche
I stood up for Christ
He stood up for victory
I stood up for less

I loved to read his verses
He loved to hear my song
We never had much interest
In who was right or wrong

His boxer’s hands were shaking
He struggled with his pipe
Imperial Tobacco
Which I helped him light

KITCHEN TABLE

The same useless thoughts arise
but no one claims them —
Loneliness seizes the frame
and shakes away hope
but no one is hopeless
no one is lonely —
The intricate preparations
for the next moment
direct you
to read this now —
Surrendered to the One
who placed me here
I sit at the very table
where these songs began
some forty years ago —
busy as a bee
in the solitude

- Hydra, 1999

Media reviews

“[Book of Longing] is not so much an illustrated collection of poems as it is a shaped autobiography.”
— Globe and Mail

“It reaffirms Cohen’s mastery in the domain of desire, and devotees will not be disappointed.”
— Austin Chronicle

“Tenderness may have replaced passion, but Cohen’s ability to capture this shift makes it poignant and meaningful. . . . Cohen has taken what his friend Irving Layton called ‘the inescapable lousiness of growing old’ and has given it, in its waning days, a profound romantic dignity.”
— Montreal Gazette

“He’s shown an uncanny knack for expressing the changing Zeitgeist.”
— Toronto Star


From the Trade Paperback edition.
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