Synopses & Reviews
Cohen famously said that there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. This book takes the brilliant light of Cohens words and shines it into Platos cave with such strength the prisoners are not only free but see the sun.”
KIMBERLY BALTZER-JARAY, author of Doorway to the World of Essences
Anyone interested in Leonard Cohenwhether a newcomer to his work or a longtime fanwill find much to reflect upon and savor here. Exploring Cohens songs, albums, poems, and novels through the prism of philosophical and religious ideas, this volume covers diverse ground. . . . certain themes receive special focus, such as romantic love, authenticity, irony, perceptions of time, embodied consciousness, the Holocaust and the banality of evil, and the process of redemption.”
KATHLEEN LEAGUE, author of Adorno, Radical Negativity, and Cultural Critique
Leonard Cohen and Philosophy? Everybody know” theres a connection: not only through his Judaism cut with classico-medievalist Québécois Catholicism and then further cut with Zen Buddhism, but also via his tutoring in the School of Hard Knocks that is the pop-rock balladeer scene. . . . Editor Jason Holt, himself a fine absurdist experimental poet and a professor of philosophy, draws us into examining the koan of Cohen, so to speak. . . . Holt assembles twenty scholars to ponder the ideational links between Cohen as writer/songwriter and a cosmopolitan whos who of philosophers. . . . Reading these superb assessments of Cohens (sung) words bids us read and/or hear the bard ever more intensively, to recognize in him the extension of a troubadour tradition . . .”
GEORGE ELLIOTT CLARKE, Professor of Canadian Studies, Harvard University and Poet Laureate of Toronto
Leonard Cohen and Philosophy . . . provides a delightful and engrossing philosophical journey through the life and art of Leonard Cohen. Jason Holt and his roster of engaging contributors make you want to travel with themand youll be glad you did.”
SHAUN P. YOUNG, editor of Jeopardy and Philosophy
Leonard Cohen and Philosophy deals with a wide range of issues, including the metaphysical world created in Suzanne ” . . . the poetics of relationships , . . . and the phenomenology of time. . . . This volume presents perspectives not to be found elsewhere and offers readers a fuller resonance with Cohens work.”
DrHGuy on Heck Of A Guy: The Other Leonard Cohen Site
It is rare for a promising young literary figure to become an influential pop music star, but that is exactly what Leonard Cohen has accomplished. . . . The chapters in this book run the gamut from classical and modern philosophical contexts to Cohens varied masculinities and prophetic tone to his unusual singing voice and concepts of beauty, authenticity, irony, love, evil, and transcendence.”
DURRELL BOWMAN, author of Experiencing Rush: A Listener's Companion
OPEN COURT: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
COVER DESIGN: SHANE ARBOGAST
COVER PHOTO: ROB VERHORST/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES
ISBN 978-0-8126-9856-5, $19.95
JASON HOLT is Associate Professor at Acadia University, where he teaches courses in philosophy and communication for the School of Kinesiology. His research focuses on aesthetics and philosophy of mind as well as popular culture and philosophy. His books include Blindsight and the Nature of Consciousness, which was shortlisted for the 2005 CPA book prize, various edited volumes, and literary books, most recently a book of poetry, Inversed.
Synopsis
From the early years, when he morphed from celebrated poet to provocative singer/songwriter, to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Leonard Cohen has endured as one of the most enigmatic and profound figures in all of popular music. With his uniquely compelling voice and unparalleled depth of artistic vision, the aesthetic quality and intellectual merit of Cohens work are above dispute; here, for the first time, a team of philosophers takes an in-depth look at its real significance.
Want to know what Cohen and Kierkegaard have in common? Or whether Cohen rivals the great philosophical pessimist Schopenhauer? Then this book is for you. It provides the first thorough analysis of Cohen from various (philosophical) positions. It is intended not only for Cohen fans but also undergraduates in philosophy and other areas. It explores important neglected aspects of Cohens work without attempting to reduce them to academic tropes, yet nonetheless it is also useful to academics or anyone beguiled by the enigma that is Leonard Cohen.
About the Author
Jason Holt is a published poet and a philosopher who specializes in aesthetics and the philosophy of mind. He's an associate professor at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He is the editor of numerous books, including
The Daily Show and Philosophy, and he is the author of
Blindsight and the Nature of Consciousness.
Table of Contents
Popstar-Poet: The Leonard Cohen Paradox,” Jason Holt
Introduces the book by presenting Cohen as an enigmatic, paradoxical figure in part because he challenges the popular art/high art dichotomy.
Part ISongs of Existence
(1) Leonard Cohen as a Guide to Life: Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism,” Brendan Shea
Cohen as reflecting the wisdom of these ancient Greek and Roman philosophies.
(2) Thats How the Light Gets In: The Existential Cohen and the Joy of Infinite Resignation,” Agust Magnusson
Cohens worldview from the point of view of existentialism.
(3) Naked at the End of the World: Leonard Cohen and Apocalyptic Time,” Gary Shapiro
The Future” as exploring philosophical views of the apocalypse.
Part IISongs of Identity
(4) Give or Take a Night or Two: Kierkegaard, Cohen, and the Dialectic of Irony,” Christopher Lauer
Kierkegaards account of irony illuminating how Cohen creates a sense of intimacy with his listeners.
(5) Why Cohen Is Our Man,” Wieland Schwanebeck
Complexities of masculine identity as variously expressed in Cohens songs.
(6) Emending the Soul of the Lost Past: Cohens Path to Self-Knowledge,” Daniele Santoro
Cohen as mapping a path to wisdom through painful and nostalgic self-knowledge.
Part IIISongs of Love
(7) Her Beauty in the Moonlight Overthrew You: Leonard Cohen on Self-Deception in Love,” Simon Riches
Cohens views of love as resolving the paradox of self-deception.”
(8) The Self, the Other, and the Mystery of the Mirror,” Lisa Warenski
Bodily awareness and mirroring of the beloved in love as ways of understanding but not dispelling the mystery of touching a perfect body with your mind.”
(9) Love and Longing in Leonard Cohen, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty,” Ellen M. Miller
Themes of Cohens work as reflecting the philosophies of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty and how it all comes together” in experience.
(10) You and Who in Leonard Cohen: Telling Time, Playing Love, and Ancient Ethics,” Babette Babich
The erotic and ancient philosophical significance of Cohens use of pronouns.
Part IVSongs of Aesthetics
(11) Hey, Thats No Way to Use Metaphor!” Wieland Schwanebeck
Cohens lyrics as exhibiting different theories of metaphor.
(12) Covering Cohen,” Adam Auch
Aesthetic complexities of covering Cohen including the tension between authenticity and generic artistry, especially in terms of how context shapes meaning.
(13) Is Leonard Cohen a Good Singer?” Jason Holt
Aspects of this question as reflecting the problem addressed by Hume of whether there really can be objective standards of taste.
(14) Duende,” Ed Winters
Cohens appeal explained in part through Goethes/Lorcas aesthetic notion of the duende, a mysterious power which everyone senses and no philosopher explains.”
Part VSongs of Literature
(15) Leonard Cohen and the Philosophy of Memory,” Pawel Dobrosielski and Marcin Napiórkowski
Cohens Flowers for Hitler through the lens of and as challenging Adornos view that there can be no poetry after Auschwitz.”
(16) Topic: Schopenhauers pessimism and Cohens poetry (title TBA), Liane Heller
Schopenhauers philosophy (pessimism, aesthetics, will and representation) as seen in elements of Cohens poetry.
(17) The Politics of Leonard Cohen,” Steven Burns
Beautiful Losers as expressing a particular political philosophy which gives a unity to the novel that it is often seen as lacking.
Part VISongs from a Mind
(18) Is a Tear an Intellectual Thing? Leonard Cohens Philosophy of Emotion,” Liam Dempsey
Cohens perspective as fitting process theories” which take emotions as quick but clumsy responses in contrast to the slower but wiser intellect.
(19) Can You Touch Someones Body with Your Mind?” Rachel Haliburton
Cohens view of mind and body as similar to Thomas Nagels in affirming the reality of subjectivity as irreducible to mere physical or functional characteristics.
(20) From a Dark Space,” Christopher Ketchum
Listening to Dear Heather as echoing Eugene Minkowskis phenomenology of dark space.”
Part VIISongs of Spirituality
(21) Clouds of Unknowing: Cohens Via Negativa,” Bernard Wills
Cohens Judeo-Christianity” contrasted with his Buddhism as reflected in Ballad of the Absent Mare” and elsewhere.
(22) The Prophetic Mr. Cohen in a Post-9/11 World,” Timothy P. Jackson
Cohens musical synthesis” of the religious and the secular as providing resources to cope with religious and political conflicts post-9/11.
(23) Breaking the Spell of Hallelujah,” Peter Stone
Dennetts view of religion as all things to all people” applied to the interpretive openness of Hallelujah” to explain its popularity.
Our Hands Bloody with Commas
Contributor bios
Index