Fab! Thanks for the link, Gwen. Will listen to this tonight

Thanks for your kind words!

Good to hear too that you managed to track down that quote where Leonard makes the connection behind language and survival - just been scanning back through the thread (hadn't checked forum for a few days)

It was a swell programme I thought. A great snapshot.

I loved Sylvie Simmons' biography, steeped in affection and learned insight.
In case anyone might be interested, here's my review of the book:

http://alexisdimyan.wordpress.com/2013/ ... -your-man/

This is great. Fascinating discussion and a great complement to Sylvie's book, which I think is terrific. Thanks for sharing. Love Leonard's line about language: "the connection of language with survival is somehow very clear and acute." Reminds me of Pablo Neruda: "not to speak is to...

Alan Light talking about its resonance on the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20778621

Peace and blessings this festive season

@DBCohen, this is so true. Art, ultimately, is subjective. There is no absolute truth.

I have a running joke with someone I know. Whenever I mention my admiration for L Cohen, all she can say is "depressing". Nothing more. I have given up trying to convert her.

Frabjous news. Old Ideas is a masterpiece - an exquisite distillation of wry observation, subversive humour
and gentle wisdom. Simply marvellous.

I, too, found Michael Lista's thoughts compelling. Oscar Wilde wrote in the preface to "A Picture of Dorian Gray": "Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital." To paraphrase this in relation to L Cohen: "Diversity of opinion about...

Hi Blonde Madonna, lol, I do aspire to be polite :) I thought that this might be the case. Wonder whether this is the same for any biography, namely that it will be driven/skewed by the writer's biases/likings/ dislikes etc? For every artist, I often think that the biography is often in the work, if...

To a certain extent, I agree with you. Didn't Leonard warn Sylvie not to write a hagiography? However, still think the book is riveting. You write: I find modern day Cohen the serene Buddhist monk evasive and slightly boring. Am sure that he would raise a wry chuckle at this. I would argue, after ha...

What a ridiculous line this is in the Daily Mail review:

For all his gloom and apparent world-weariness, Leonard Cohen, it’s clear, is also a colossal old ham.

Mind you, this is the Daily Mail so I guess one shouldn't be too surprised

A whole book, wow. Should be a fascinating read.

I always loved Bryan Appleyard's piece from 2005 and his brilliant observation:

"it is a song about the contemporary condition of song"

http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/appleyard.html

There was a review in last weekend's Sunday Times (UK), unfortunately hidden behind a pay wall. Very complimentary it was too. http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/non_fiction/article1157622.ece However the most striking aspect of the review was that it was placed adjacent to a review o...

A couple of great reviews thus far on Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Im-Your-Man-Leonard-Cohen/dp/0224090631/ref=pd_sim_m_h__27 If the folk who wrote these happen to be on this forum, great work. Slightly mystified by the third review, though,as reviewer appears to be putting too great an emphas...

I wonder if this poem by Byron was a possible source of inspiration: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173081 I read a piece the other day, about Shakespeare, highlighting how he was a master of polysemy. It strikes me that polysemous is an adjective that can be ascribed, with merit, to the maest...