leonardcohenforum.com

Leonard goes back to his roots in a conversation with Arthur Kurzweil.
This is a must-to-read piece, with many rare photos,
now posted at http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/arthurkurzweil.pdf

This conversation, between Leonard Cohen and Arthur Kurzweil, took place
on the morning of Tuesday, November 23, 1993, in a conference room of the
New York office of Random House Publishers, on the occasion of the
publication of Leonard's book, Stranger Music: Selected
Poems and Songs. At the time, Arthur was editor-inchief
of the Jewish Book Club and he selected Leonard's
new book as an offering to the book club's over 20,000
members. Arthur requested an interview for The Jewish
Book News with Leonard through Leonard's publisher.
An abbreviated and edited version of the following
conversation was published in The Jewish Book News in
January, 1994, and appears on the web in various places.
This is the complete conversation - never before published anywhere.

Thank you Jarkko for making this interview available to us. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Excellent.

Cheshire gal wrote:Thank you Jarkko for making this interview available to us. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Excellent.

Ditto! Excellent indeed!!

What a privilege to read this conversation...with a man who claims, I paraphrase, never to have had a thought in his life. Thank you for posting this fascinating document! Yes, we'll never know him, but we can glance at layer upon layer, upon layer.

Thank you, Jarkko for bringing this remarkable conversation to our attention.
I found it so comprehensive, I had to take a break to finish reading it.
There are so many profound observations by both Kurzweil and LC to absorb in one sitting.

---Arlene

I enjoyed reading this very much. It was a good description of a lovely encounter.

Yes, T'was a good read. Thanks.

Thanks Jarkko, for this complete interview of which I have only read bits and pieces before. So good to have it altogether.

I laughed at the part where Arthur Kurzweil's second cousin now in Australia learned English from listening to Leonard's records!
So many good 'bits' and I haven't finished reading it yet.

I remember this... and it is, indeed, very worthwhile! Great time to be posting such things .
Thanks, Jarkko!

Thanks Jarkko! Loved reading this interview. I am always fascinated by family stories and this one naturally grabbed my imagination.
My father's family were from Hungary and my maiden name sounded Polish--one of my cousins made a pilgrimage to Hungary a few years ago to try to uncover a bit of family history. This summer--when I would like to be at the Leonard Cohen event in Wisconsin, I will be travelling to Poland, Berlin and Prague. With this story in mind, I will be thinking of all the history that I will be able to encounter in those places. Oh and at the same time I became a Leonard Cohen fan I also read Be Here Now (well only a couple of years later). I feel as though I have been on a journey with Leonard right from the start. Thanks so much for posting this!

I am remembering parts of this, but not the whole of it, for obvious reasons. I'm reading it now and am just blown away by its richness... the same as I was by parts of it before... but the entirety of it, in its way, lends so much insight into Leonard that I've stopped at page 17 to email the link to two people who have asked "Why are you so into Leonard Cohen... what is it about him?" Well, read and read on, dear friends, your answers are here.

haha lizzytysh
read and read on--indeed--I'm the little Jew who wrote the Bible--that one line resonates so deeply --if he had only written that it might have been enough. Of course he didn't and I am grateful for all of it. Not many understand my passion for this man--I am not sure that I even do.

Love your last line, theresa... it comes from a place quite unlocatable and
indefinable, doesn't it... and that feels right to me and as it should be
when the connection is deep.

I totally agree with both of you. I cannot describe the immense love that I feel for this man, but reading this very interesting article I am again aware of the depth of his thoughts, his intelligence, his knowledge of the Jewish religion, his respect for his family and heritage, his kindness. I got new insight into who leonard Cohen is and where he came from, and this brings an even deeper respect for this extraordinary man. God bless him.

Gerrida

The comment on reincarnation ("a Tibetan fairytale") raised a smile. However, I don't know if the fault was in their transmitters or my receiver, but some of this just went over my head.... even with the footnotes!