Ira B.
Nadel. Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen. Random House of
Canada, 1996.
Thanks
to my friend Nancy for lending me her copy of this biography. She
beat me to it at Baker Books, so it is still on my TO FIND list.
Nadel's
is a very different approach from the recent musical bio A Remarkable
Life I just read. I must say that there are things in this book,
Various Positions, which I wish I did not know. The drug use,
depression, sexual obsessions (females as object and muse,
reminiscent of Picasso), and the artist's painful struggle - the
tensions between everyday family/business life and literary calling
and spiritual yearning. It seems to me that it is we, the loyal fans,
who are the winners here.
A lot
has happened in the 20 years since the publication of this book,
including 9/11 and the 2010 Olympics. The best for me is the fact
that Leonard is still with us, and still gracing us with regular new
releases including: Popular Problems, and Can't Forget.
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