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Book of Longing

Book of Longing

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Book of Longing Cloth - 2006

by Leonard Cohen

  • Used
  • as new
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
New

Description

As New in an As New dust jacket. Bound in full black cloth. The spine is stamped in silver. 231pps. First Printing. This is an excellent, collector's-quality copy: clean, tight, square, and bright. All tips are sharp. The textblock is immaculate; no reading wear and no previous ownership markings. The dust jacket, glossy in an archival sleeve, is equally Fine. SIGNED by the author -- along with his customary 'Order of the Unified Heart' stamp -- on the title-page. Purchase with confidence: all books, gradings, and descriptions are rendered the care of a genuine bibliophile. Satisfaction guaranteed or all costs you've incurred will be promptly refunded. Thanks for your interest in Nooks of Books. To assist with your decision, photos can be emailed upon request. 41-A.

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Details

  • Title Book of Longing
  • Author Leonard Cohen
  • Binding Cloth
  • Edition First Edition
  • Condition New
  • Pages 231
  • Language EN
  • Publisher McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, On, Canada
  • Date April 25, 2006
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 223-6046
  • ISBN 9780771022340

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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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