The demons of Leonard Cohen / Francis Mus ; with a foreword by Brian Trehearne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mus, Francis, author.

Contributor:

Trehearne, Brian, 1957- writer of foreword.

Series:

Canadian studies (Ottawa, Ontario)

Standardized Title:

Demonen van Leonard Cohen. English

Language:

Dutch

English

Subjects (All):

Cohen, Leonard, 1934-2016--Criticism and interpretation.

Cohen, Leonard.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 247 pages) : illustrations (some color).

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : University of Ottawa Press, [2020]

Language Note:

In English and Dutch.

Summary:

Who speaks in Leonard Cohen's oeuvre? By identifying the many guises in which Cohen presents himself to his audience, Francis Mus seeks to formulate an answer to this question. The countless roles assumed by Cohen's persona are not some innocent game, but strategies in response to the sometimes conflicting demands of a 'life in art': they serve as masks that represent the performer's face and state of mind in a heightened yet detached way. In and around the artistic work, they are embodied in different guises or 'demons': image (the poser), artistry (the writer and singer), alienation (the stranger and the confidant), religion (the worshipper, prophet, or priest), and power (the powerful or powerless). Ultimately, Cohen's artistic practice can be read as an attempt at forging interpersonal contact. The wide international circulation of Cohen's work has resulted in a partial severing with the context of its creation. Much of it has filtered through the public image forged by the artist and his critics in concerts, interviews and reflective texts. Consequently, this monograph is less a biography than a reception study, supplemented with extensive archival research, unpublished documents, and interviews with colleagues and privileged witnesses. At the same time, this book sheds new light on the dynamic of a comprehensive oeuvre spanning a period of sixty years.

Contents:

Foreword / by Brian Trehearne

Introduction. Leonard Cohen, who are you?

Image : on the self-representation in the music

Artistry : on the relationship between maker, work, and audience

Alienation : from local embeddedness and global exile to universal aspirations and back again

Intermezzo 1. "another vocabulary" : a writer in search of his language (1): case study of an unpublished short story

Intermezzo 2. "don't follow the story, follow the emotion" : a writer in search of his language (2): the international reception of beautiful losers

Religion : how the priest, prophet, and believer serve artistic expression

Power : artistic personas caught between vulnerability and authority

Intermezzo 3. "everyone must fall" : freedom as consciousness : about longing and loss

Encounter : "the only song I ever had."

Notes:

Translation of: De demonen van Leonard Cohen. Translation by Laura Vroomen.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [237]-247).

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780776631226

0776631225

9780776631202

0776631209

OCLC:

1191777562