Beatrice Wolfe Watson's dissertation on LC's poetry

[DBCohen]

I would like to draw everyone’s attention to a valuable contribution made to the study of LC’s work and to the Files, which so far, it seems, went unnoticed. It is a 30-page-long dissertation by Beatrice Wolfe Watson, titled “The Strange Case of Leonard Cohen: ‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.’” It can be found in PDF format on the “Analysis” page of The Leonard Cohen Files (Jarkko announced it on his “Latest Updates” list, but I guess many have missed it). The writer reviews LC’s position as a poet and song-writer since the earliest days of his career, quoting many critical sources. She then goes on to analyze a few examples from his body of work, including poems from The Spice Box of Earth, parts of Beautiful Losers, and a few songs, in particular “Famous Blue Raincoat”. I found her analysis very intriguing, and I recommend her dissertation to anyone interested in studying LC’s work. At least one of the main points of her thesis, namely that LC “challenges the authenticity and authority of his own voice, undermining and unsettling the very certainties that he is trying to grasp”, should be seriously considered and further discussed.

[owilks]

Hey,

Do you happen to know what year this paper was written?
I need to reference it in my own piece of work and the date would very highly handy.

[DBCohen]

I really don't know, but try asking Jarkko directly, perhaps he can find out.