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Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2021 5:07 pm
by jarkko
Image

Leonard Cohen
The Mystical Roots of Genius
Harry Freedman

Product details
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Continuum; 1st edition (28 Oct. 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1472987276
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1472987273
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.29 x 23.39 cm
Published to coincide with the 5th anniversary of Cohen’s death on 7th November 2016, this book uncovers the spiritual traditions that lie behind Leonard Cohen's profound and unmistakable lyrics.

“Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don’t really care for music, do you?” – ‘Hallelujah’
“A cultural story of a cultural giant” – Susie Orbach
“Leonard Cohen taught us that even in the midst of darkness there is light, in the midst of hatred there is love, with our dying breath we can still sing Hallelujah” - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
“This is among the finest volumes on Cohen’s life and lyrics” - John McKenna, writer and friend of Leonard Cohen

Harry Freedman is Britain's leading author of popular works of Jewish culture and history. His publications include Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Rabbi Louis Jacobs; The Talmud: A Biography; Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul and The Murderous History of Bible Translations. He is currently writing Britain’s Jews, a portrait of Jewish life in the UK.
harryfreedmanbooks.com @harryfreedman1

The singer and poet Leonard Cohen was deeply learned in Judaism and Christianity, the spiritual traditions that underpinned his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In this book Harry Freedman, a leading author of cultural and religious history, explores the mystical and spiritual sources Cohen drew upon, discusses their original context and the stories and ideas behind them.

Cohen’s music is studded with allusions to Jewish and Christian tradition, to stories and ideas drawn from the Bible, Talmud and Kabbalah. From his 1967 classic ‘Suzanne’, through masterpieces like ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Who by Fire’, to his final challenge to the divinity, ‘You Want It Darker’ he drew on spirituality for inspiration and as a tool to create understanding, clarity and beauty.

Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius looks deeply into the imagination of one of the greatest singers and lyricists of our time, providing a window on the landscape of his soul. This book goes beyond traditional biography to provide an insight into the spiritual traditions behind Cohen's powerful lyrics. Freedman explores song by song how Cohen reworked myths and prayers, legends and allegories. By the end the reader will be left with a powerful understanding of Cohen’s story, and a whole new insight into the man he was, and his music.
Includes accompanying photographs depicting Cohen at different stages of his life and at key moments.
Thanks to Amy Greaves at Bloomsbury for the information.

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 1:06 pm
by sebmelmoth2003
about 10 moinutes into programme :

The singer Leonard Cohen, who died five years ago, tells the story that a friend once told him: "You never met a religion you didn't like".

Listen in to our investigation of his spiritual life and we're fairly confident you'll never hear a Cohen song in quite the same way again.

Though he fell out with the Montreal Jewish community he grew up in, his music fuses Judaism and Christianity as well as ideas from Zen Buddism.

We hear Cohen's own views on faith from the BBC archive, talk to Harry Freedman author of Leonard Cohen: The mystical roots of genius and of course, hear those songs alongside their inspirations from the Talmud, the Kabbalah and the Bible.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011bws

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:19 pm
by christineanne
Just seen this review of the book:

Written by Tim Adams and published in 'The Guardian' 7th November

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/ ... dApp_Other

Some lovely comments in the comments section :)

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2021 5:14 am
by Mollydog
An interesting interview with Harry Freedman yesterday on CBC's The Current:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1- ... ding=false

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:10 am
by Patrick Hasselbank
Thank you for sharing this! Is it available on Amazon?

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2021 2:50 pm
by DennisBerlin
Patrick Hasselbank wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:10 am(...) Is it available on Amazon?
https://www.amazon.de/Leonard-Cohen-Mys ... C85&sr=1-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leonard-Cohen- ... 235&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/14729872 ... 580&sr=8-1

-- etc.


By the way, I found it a very interesting read (Read it directly before the second volume of "Untold Stories" came out, as attunement so to speak) .

The author emphaszies that there of course are more layers of interpretation to take heed of, but his focus lies on the religious aspect.

Some of his (sparse) biographical notes tend to be somewhat sketchy in little details, but that doesn't matter (to me) as that's not his focus and anyways that doesn't alter the meaning of the context he put them in.

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:44 am
by Patrick Hasselbank
DennisBerlin wrote: Tue Dec 28, 2021 2:50 pm
Patrick Hasselbank wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:10 am(...) Is it available on Amazon?
https://www.amazon.de/Leonard-Cohen-Mys ... C85&sr=1-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leonard-Cohen- ... 235&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/14729872 ... 580&sr=8-1

-- etc.


By the way, I found it a very interesting read (Read it directly before the second volume of "Untold Stories" came out, as attunement so to speak) .

The author emphaszies that there of course are more layers of interpretation to take heed of, but his focus lies on the religious aspect.

Some of his (sparse) biographical notes tend to be somewhat sketchy in little details, but that doesn't matter (to me) as that's not his focus and anyways that doesn't alter the meaning of the context he put them in.

Thank you Dennis!

Re: Leonard Cohen - The Mystical Roots of Genius, new book by Harry Freedman

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 1:05 am
by B4real
One hour of Harry Freedman visually speaking about his book here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4IkW5Iy_Uk