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I read Beautiful Losers in college (9 years ago) in a catharsis of drunkeness after being out till the wee hours of the morning. Then I would call information in Los Angeles looking for any L. Cohen's. It's a funny memory, and the book was a little less confusing after drinking so much.
Not until last year did I read his other novel, "The Favourite Game", a completely different experience. Obviously I always knew that LC could write and sing, poetry, but not until reading "The Favourite Game", had I realized what an incredible writer he was as well. It is a very different thing to be able to write poetry and novel.
Has anyone ever asked the obvious question, "Was Breaveman based on his person?" I kept picturing Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig as Breaveman. I loved and hated the character, just like any woman would.

Hi showin1990,

Thanks for mentioning "The Favourite Game". It's a wonderful book, and it's years since I last read it (I'm due for a re-read). I think the book is undoubtedly semi-autobiographical, and based largely on Leonard's own experience. I immediately think of the video footage where (as a child) he's playing in the snow, and we know that summer camp was an important event for him. Leonard's Jewish family background and the themes that emerge in his early relationships are clearly evident in the novel.

All good things, John E

Thanks, John.
Maybe I will reread it and picture Leonard as young Breaveman!

Here is a link to a delightful interview w/Leonard soon after The Favourite Game was published:

http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainme ... ips/15493/

That should answer all of your questions regarding whether or not it is autobiographical.
In addition, it's wonderful to hear L speak. His eloquence & diction bring the late Bill Buckley to mind a bit.

Hope you like it!

Oh yes, Pomona, I liked it!

"Writers by their very nature can't really be nice guys." This coming from one of the nicest guys around!

Wonder if he still feels the same way about Montreal?

Thank you so much for this!!!!

Best regards,
Mary

Hi Pomona,

Thank you so much for the link to this wonderful interview (shown seven years before I read the book in 1970). However, it doesn't necessarily answer the question of how much of the book is autobiographical! I think that by necessity, Leonard had to disidentify with Breavman at the time. His statement that the book is an emotional autobiography is far more telling.

All the best, John E

P.S. It's taken me a while to return to this thread

I read The Favorite Game about two months ago and it's my favorite book now.
If Breevman actually existed he would be either the person I mostly hate or the love of my life. I've recognised in him many parts of my own character (I' not sure if this is good, though) and above all the way he admires beauty. What he takes as beautiful, how he chooses to conquer it etc.
I loved the characters one by one, even Mrs. Breevman (yes, I liked her, it's not a joke). I loved every part of the plot, I loved Cohen's writing, I loved the ending.
Simply wonderful!


I'd love to read Beautiful Losers, I've already ordered from the bookshop near our neighborhood, but I think it won't be so easy. Beautiful Losers has not been translated in my language, so I'll have to read it in English and I'm not sure if I can. I've already read some parts in greek that were included in The Stranger Music collection and the vocabulary seemed.. tricky. Especially in the "All right, Edith" part.

This isn't about the book "Beautiful Losers" - but about the phrase. A short blog by Dr. Allen Hunter:

There's something about Leonard (Cohen, that is)....

By Dr.Allan Hunter

Created 06/01/2009
04:10

Every concert has its concession stand with its heaps of over-priced souvenir merchandise, and although Leonard Cohen’s merchandise people were no different the prices were neither grossly inflated nor were the tee shirts the usual rather crass offerings. My favorite was one that read ‘Beautiful Loser’.

Think about that for a moment. We’re all capable of being beautiful - no matter what we look like. Our souls can be beautiful. And, from the age of about fifteen onwards, we’re all losing things; teeth drop out, hair thins, muscles ache or sag. We’re in a losing battle against the forces of entropy and aging, and there’s no way we can get to the end of our lives without having lost a lot of stuff, a lot of battles, a lot of illusions. And then we lose our lives.

So we’re losers. But we’re also beautiful. It’s a Cohen motif, linked to his Buddhist studies.

Put the two words together though, and we get another dimension. Since we’re all losers what matters is if we can be beautiful while we’re losing. This is not the desperate bravado of the gambler, who wants to throw opportunity away as fast as possible. Can we, Leonard asks, see the beauty in ourselves and others, during the process of having everything removed from us, either by chance or our own stupidity? Can we become elegant losers? Can we turn losing into beauty?

One thing is certain. It becomes much more possible to do this when someone has taken the trouble, and the love, to point out what will be required of us - all of us without exception - in the days ahead.

showin1990 wrote:
>I read Beautiful Losers in college . . . and the book was a little less confusing after drinking so much.


Hello, only now did i see this. I am amongst the world's highest authorities on this novel, so it looks like you have struck oil - you lucky person. For your entertainment and added enjoyment of the work, here is a little piece of information that only the truly educated, like myself, would ever notice. As an overture to pleasuring Mary Voolnd of Nova Scotia, F's hand approaches her garter and he writes: "Like angels on the head of a pin, my fingers dance on the rubber button." This line comes (almost verbatim) from the much debated medieval expression 'How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?' versus 'How many angels can dance on the point of a needle?' So, now you know.

Should you require further intellectual enlightenment to enrich the reading of 'Beautiful Losers', please do not be ashamed to leave a message here - as I may look in again one day. I do not approve of your weakness to alcohol because such indulgence betrays an underdeveloped spirit; is it possible to exert a little discipline?

As I said, the drinking was in college. 12 years ago. Who doesn't experiment with alcohol at one time or another? I will openly admit I was spiritually underdeveloped: I wouldn't go back and change a thing.

showin1990 wrote:As I said, the drinking was in college. 12 years ago. Who doesn't experiment with alcohol at one time or another? I will openly admit I was spiritually underdeveloped: I wouldn't go back and change a thing.

Hi showin1990,

We have mostly all been there at one time or another. Good for you that you wouldn't change a thing. As someone has said, "Experience is the best teacher". There is always a positive in every situation. In this case, you discovered the beauty of LC's writing.

Kindest regards,
Mary