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Information to Users INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript bas been reproduced from the microfilm master. U1vfi films the text direct1y from the original or copy submitted. Thus, sorne thesis and dissertation copies are in typeWriter face, while others May be from any type ofcomputer printer. The quaIity ofthis reproduction is dependent upon the quality ofthe copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. AIso, if unauthorized copyright material had ta be' removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and eontinuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is aIso photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back ofthe book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographie prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this eopy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North zero Roa~ ADn Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313n61-4700 800/521-0600 Leonard Cohen's Lives in Art: The S!ory ofthe Artist in His Nove/s, Poems. andSongs by Colin Hill .{ A thesis submitted to the Faculty ofGraduate Studies and Research in panial fulfilment ofthe requirements for the degree ofMaster ofArts August.. 1996 Under the supervision ofProfessor B. Treheame ofthe Department of Englis~ McGill University, Montreal lO Colin Hill 1996 { National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K 1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A QN4 Canada canada Our Ne Notre r.'Menee The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library ofCanada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son penmSSlon. autorisation. 0-612-29547-8 Canada Abstract ( The concems ofthe anist-figure are a central issue in the work ofLeonard Cohen. His novels~ poems, and songs, seen as a whole~ fonn a portrait-of-the-artist. Cohen's artist-story is crafted with attention to the romantic tradition ofthe Künstle"oman but extends beyond an initial apprenticeship phase, the focus ofthe Kiillst/e"Omall., offering a more extensive exploration ofthe artistic vocation. The artist-figure, as he develops.. encounters conflicts between his vocation and the demands ofthe outside world. Cohen's artist-figure endeavours both to make art and to self-create, and tbis creative impulse is simuItaneously propelled and hindered by the romantic-Iove relationship, by the demands ofan artist's role in the public sphere, by the aesthetic requirements ofart itselt: and by spiritual and religious issues. The last ofthese four concems provides the artist-figure ( with a degree oflasting comfort through its mediation ofsorne ofthe ongoing internaI struggles ofthe artistic temperament. Cohen's portrait-of-the-artist attains a degree of depth and perspective by bis ovm artistic persona's intrusion into bis wode., a persona he constructs in an ironic~ self-conscious~ and self-reflexive fashion. { Résumé ( Les préoccupations du personnage-artiste représentent un point central des travaux de Leonard Cohen. Ses livres. poèmes et chansons constituent un pOl1rait-de-l'aniste. L'histoire de la vie de l'artiste que raconte M. Cohen est partiellement fidèle à la tradition romantique du Künst/erroman. Par contre. cette histoire va outre la phase initiale d'apprentissage typique du Künstlerromall~ et offre une exploration plus exhaustive de la vocation d'artiste. Le personnage-artiste. en se développant.. rencontre des conflits entre sa vocation et les rigueurs du monde extérieur. Le personnage-artiste de M. Cohen s'efforce de créer l'art et à s'auto-créer. Cette pulsion créative est simultanément propulsée et gènée par la relation d'amour. par la demande du rôle de l'artiste dans la sphère du publique.. par les exigences esthétiques de l'art et finalement par des questions de religion et de spiritualité. Ce dernier point pourvoie le personnage-artiste un certain réconfort lors de { son questionnement perpétuel de son tempérament artistique. Le portrait-de-l'artiste de M.Cohen acquiert un niveau de complexité et de perspective grâce à J'infusion de l'image populaire de M. Cohen dans ses propres travaux., image qui est créée dans un style ironique et en connaissance et en référence de soi. < Table ofContents 1 Introduction ...................................... .. 1 l. Apprenticeship and the Process ofArtistic Development ........................14 II. The Artist-figure in the Romantic Love Relationship _ 33 [II. The Artist-figure in the Social Realrn -_.53 IV. The Artist-figure's Sense ofDuty, Sacrifice.. and Martyrdom 78 V. The Artist-figure and the Spiritual and Religious Experience 95 A Speculative Conclusion 113 Works Consulted 118 Index ofPrimary Sources .............................................. 129 ( { C. Hill 1 ( Introduction The fact that Leonard Cohen has attraeted. not only significant critical commentary, but also massive popular attentio~ places hirn in a situation almost unique in Canadian [etters. Aside from the qualitative merits ofbis wode, the grand-scale focus upon Cohen is largely the result ofhis versatility with regards to expressive modes: rus often prolific career, now into its fifth decade. has produced an extensive catalogue ofwritings in the genres ofthe novel, poetry, and song. This expressive flexibility has given Cohen a wide audience that extends beyond the circles ofacademics and writers., and into the more general sphere of"popular" culture. The effects ofthis extensive critical and popular attention have been significant on Cohen's artistic career: the worldly benefits ofsuccess have allowed Cohen great material freedom to live a grand-scale "life in an.. " especially by Canadian standards., and his ongoing creative documentation ofthe artist-life has accordingly been extensive and complex. 1 When viewed as an organic whole., Cohen's writings form a distinct "portrait-of-the-anist" which., to an extent., parallels stories ofthe artist crafted in the Romantic tradition ofthe KÜllst/erroman. The substantial body ofCohen criticism., however.. strives ooly infrequently to place Cohen's art within the context ofRomanticism. While explicit references to the Kiinst/erroman are few within the body ofdiscourse surrounding Cohen's work., critics and popular joumalists have.. al times.. been keenly aware ofthe central place that the artist-figure occupies within Cohen's canon. The prominence ofCohen's own artistic lThe terro "life in art" is used several rimes by Coh~ most memorably in Death ofa Lady's Man, to make reference to the artistic vocation. This phrase also helps fonn the appropriatc tide ofIra ( Nadel's 1994 biography ofCohen entitled Leonard Cohen: A Life in An. C. Hill 2 • persona has served. not ooly to draw critical attention to issues ofthe anist in bis wode., but aIso to problematize the process ofdistinguishing Cohen., the writer, trom the voices that speak and sing out in bis writings. It is useful.. for the sake ofcharting critical discussion ofCohen's work in general.. and ofhis depiction ofthe artist-figure in particular, to subdivide critical response to Cohen's work into three distinct periods. The tirst ofthese periods begins with an initial response to Cohen's tirst book ofpoetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. published in 1956, and terminates before the flood ofscholarly essays and popular press features that follow rus landmark novel., Beautiful Losers. published in 1966. This tirst period possesses very fittle in the way ofsubstantial criticism., and the majority ofwork done on Cohen in the tirst decade ofhis career takes the necessarily briefform ofthe book review. As Michael Gnarowski remarks, in the ( "Introduction" ta Leonard Cohen: The Artist andHis Critics, an important teX! wbich anthologizes early articles on Cohen, the critical attention afforded Let Us Compare Mythologies was made of"the usual scattering ofcautious reviews" (2). One such review, "Turning New Leaves," was first published by Milton Wilson in 1957. While Wilson concedes that "Mr. Cohen knows how ta tum a phrase," the generaI tone ofthe article is reserved, the reviewer holding back praise for the poet that he envisions Cohen might become: "ifhe ever really writes bis Exodus it should be a taIe worth reading" (15). WiIson's attitude is fairly typical ofearly responses to Cohen wbich tend
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