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Leonard Cohen (1934- )
Leonard Cohen spent his formative years in Montreal's affluent Westmount district.
Shortly after he graduated from McGill University, Contact Press introduced
the new McGill Poetry Series of first poetry collections with Cohen's
Let us compare mythologies (1956). His second book, The spice
box of earth (1961) followed graduate work at Columbia University in
New York, labour in his family's clothing business, and composition of an
unpublished novel. His second work of fiction, The favorite game
was published in 1963. It was at this time that Cohen began to spend a good
part of each year abroad on the island of Hydra, Greece. His burgeoning
career as a singer-songwriter coincided with the publication of Flowers
for Hitler (1964), Parasites of heaven (1966) and the novel Beautiful
losers (1966). Subsequent poetry collections, although mostly overshadowed
by his recordings, include The energy of slaves (1972), and Death
of a lady's man (1978). Both Michael Ondaatje and Stephen Scobie have
written critical studies on Cohen.
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