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THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:12 pm
by jarkko
I believe the news was not supposed to be out yet, but amazon has posted it, so here is a copy of their presentation text.
The Flame is a stunning collection of Leonard Cohen's last poems, selected and ordered by the author in the final months of his life. Featuring lyrics, prose pieces and illustrations, the book also contains an extensive selection from Cohen's notebooks, which he kept in poetic form throughout his life, and offers an unprecedentedly intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist and thinker.

An enormously powerful final chapter in Cohen's storied literary career, The Flame showcases the full range of Leonard Cohen's lyricism, from the exquisitely transcendent to the darkly funny. By turns devastatingly sad and winningly strange, these are the works of a poet and lyricist who has plumbed the depths of our darkest questions and come up wanting, yearning for more.
The book will be published in October 2018. Amazon gives October 4, 2018, for the Kindle e-book.

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:52 pm
by Mabeanie1
Thanks Jarkko. This is going to be a treat worth waiting for.

Wendy

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 3:10 pm
by Maarten
Jarkko

Thanks for the info. Just one year to go... Counting down the days already!
Maarten

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:06 pm
by Ria Bellen
Thank you so much for sharing Jarkko !!!

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:16 pm
by mutti
Thank you Jarkko! Really looking forward to this new collection. Great news to wake up to.
Leonard we are forever grateful on so many levels...
Leslie

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:25 pm
by brightnow
Well, this is something to look forward to!

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 4:36 am
by LisaLCFan
Fantastic! A bit of a wait, but something to look forward to. Thanks for the heads-up!

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:41 am
by Cate
I was hoping for something like this. Thanks for the good news Jarkko.

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:59 am
by B4real
SOLD :D A thousand times over!

We are going to have to put the "P" word into serious practice now.....but a year goes by so fast these days!

This will surely be the brightest light to come. What an aptly named title.
The Flame "kindles a light for the lost"..... The Flame is "A million candles burning"
I'm sure "there's a blaze of light in every word"...
I'll stop now :)

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:59 pm
by Diane
Marvellous news!
B4real wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:59 am ... What an aptly named title ...
... Sure it failed my little fire
But it's bright the dying spark ...

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 1:34 pm
by MarieM
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ ... CMP=twt_gu
The Guardian

Alison Flood
Friday 6 October 2017 06.00 EDT

Leonard Cohen's last book, finished 'days before his death', due out next year

The Flame collects unpublished poetry, as well as notebook entries and song lyrics, and offers ‘an intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist’

A book of Leonard Cohen’s final poems, completed in the months before his death and tackling “the flame and how our culture threatened its extinction”, according to his manager, will be published next year.

Describing the collection, The Flame, as “an enormously powerful final chapter in Cohen’s storied literary career”, publisher Canongate said that the Canadian singer-songwriter had chosen and ordered the poems in the months before his death in November 2016. The overwhelming majority of the book, which will be published next October, will be new material, it added.

Cohen, who died at the age of 82, originally focused his career on poetry, publishing the collections Let Us Compare Mythologies in 1956, The Spice-Box of Earth in 1961, and Flowers for Hitler in 1964. By the late 60s, he was concentrating more on music, releasing his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, in 1967.

Cohen’s manager and trustee of his estate Robert Kory said that pulling The Flame together had been a key ambition for the singer-songwriter at the end of his life. “During the final months of his life, Leonard had a singular focus – completing this book, taken largely from his unpublished poems and selections from his notebooks. The flame and how our culture threatened its extinction was a central concern,” said Kory.

“Though in declining health, Leonard died unexpectedly. Those of us who had the rare privilege of spending time with him during this period recognised that the flame burned bright within him to the very end. This book, finished only days before his death, reveals to all the intensity of his inner fire.”

In an interview with the New Yorker last October, Cohen spoke of how “my natural thrust is to finish things that I’ve begun”, and of how he was getting up well before dawn to write.

“I don’t dare attach myself to a spiritual strategy. I don’t dare do that. I’ve got some work to do. Take care of business. I am ready to die. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That’s about it for me,” he told the magazine’s editor David Remnick.

“In a certain sense, this particular predicament is filled with many fewer distractions than other times in my life and actually enables me to work with a little more concentration and continuity than when I had duties of making a living, being a husband, being a father. Those distractions are radically diminished at this point. The only thing that mitigates against full production is just the condition of my body … At a certain point, if you still have your marbles and are not faced with serious financial challenges, you have a chance to put your house in order.”

The Flame will also include an extensive selection from Cohen’s notebooks, which Canongate said he “kept in poetic form throughout his life”, and which it promised would offer “an unprecedentedly intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist and thinker”. The full lyrics of his final three albums, along with those he wrote for the album Blue Alert by his collaborator Anjani, will also be included, along with prose pieces and Cohen’s own illustrations.

Canongate’s Francis Bickmore, who acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, called it “a towering final book, hulking with morbid wit and lit up with insight … This substantial parting work, from a great artist now gone, will speak to anyone who has been moved by Cohen’s unique voice.”

The Flame will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US, and McClelland & Stewart in Canada.



Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 2:04 pm
by jarkko
The book will have 452 pages.
(From Dominique Boile)

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:59 pm
by phillip
Cant wait :D

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:38 pm
by Okudzhava
Great news, much better than the Montreal Tribute Concert one. Thanks for the info!

Re: THE FLAME - Leonard's New Collection of Poetry

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:22 pm
by tularosa
Same thing for me Okudzhava. Happy to see that I am not alone ... And now I am waiting for a CD, may be soon ?