daveb
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beautiful losers - knocked out. · Feb 23, 08:00 am
“they just don’t make drugs like that anymore” – from a cbc interview.
So they voted out beautiful losers last night on the cbc canada reads. just after they voted it out (and broke my heart) they spoke in length about the magic and merits of the book.
this book was first published in 1966. it is a marvel that the book was published in this period, and a tribute to the bravery and resilience of the publisher. apparently the 60’s were a period of explosive thought and sexual revolution, and this book seems to find the voice of that time period.
it is a very difficult book to read and was disturbing in parts. one of the main objections in the cbc review was to the subject matter and particular scenes, and what that might do to young minds. i agree that a lot of this subject matter can be tough, but the ideas are important. rejecting a book because it might offend seems like a dated approach. after the CBC deems it “too hot for young folk” – what teenager you know won’t be clamouring to read this book as soon as they can get their hands on it?
the disturbing parts of this book were highlighted in the interview, but little of the beauty, the energetic and mystical language. this is a novel written by a poet, and as such, it’s a little weird, but there is power and strength in the language and thought. it’s off the rails and in many parts goes too far. but that’s the point. who knows where our limits are if we don’t probe them.
an introduction to the chinese translation:
A NOTE TO THE READERDear Reader,
Thank you for coming to this book. It is an honor, and a surprise, to have the frenzied thoughts of my youth expressed in Chinese characters. I sincerely appreciate the efforts of the translator and the publishers in bringing this curious work to your attention. I hope you will find it useful or amusing.
When I was young, my friends and I read and admired the old Chinese poets. Our ideas of love and friendship, of wine and distance, of poetry itself, were much affected by those ancient songs. Much later, during the years when I practiced as a Zen monk under the guidance of my teacher Kyozan Joshu Roshi, the thrilling sermons of Lin Chi (Rinzai) were studied every day. So you can understand, Dear Reader, how privileged I feel to be able to graze, even for a moment, and with such meager credentials, on the outskirts of your tradition.
This is a difficult book, even in English, if it is taken too seriously. May I suggest that you skip over the parts you don’t like? Dip into it here and there. Perhaps there will be a passage, or even a page, that resonates with your curiosity. After a while, if you are sufficiently bored or unemployed, you may want to read it from cover to cover. In any case, I thank you for your interest in this odd collection of jazz riffs, pop-art jokes, religious kitsch and muffled prayer æ an interest which indicates, to my thinking, a rather reckless, though very touching, generosity on your part.
Beautiful Losers was written outside, on a table set among the rocks, weeds and daisies, behind my house on Hydra, an island in the Aegean Sea. I lived there many years ago. It was a blazing hot summer. I never covered my head. What you have in your hands is more of a sunstroke than a book.
Dear Reader, please forgive me if I have wasted your time.
Los Angeles, February 27, 2000
Leonard Cohen
Publisher: Emblem Editions
Place Published: Toronto
ISBN: 077102200x
Format: Paperback
No. of Pages: 255 p.
Authors: Leonard Cohen
Publication Date: April 8, 1966
more about Leonard Cohen from the canadian encyclopedia
and even a little more from answers.com
Categories: books / |
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— eleanor Feb 23, 03:33 pm #