Most know Leonard Cohen as the first vocalist of the iconic “Hallelujah.” Others may know him as a poet, a musician, a novelist, or a songwriter. Some may even know him as a painter. And that’s exactly how he would have wanted it. He is a jack-of-all-trades, who deftly evades any labels we may try to ascribe to him, preferring instead to lurk in the shadows of changeability with a fickle smirk.
Leonard Cohen’s artistic career was prolific, to say the least. This in itself makes it difficult to attribute any strict epithet to him or his work. Over the course of his life, Cohen published 12 books—10 poetry collections as well as two novels, ///Beautiful Losers/// and ///The Favorite Game///. The publishing house McClelland & Stewart also plans to bring out a final posthumous anthology, ///The Flame///, in October 2018. Completed in the last months of Cohen’s life, the collection will be made up of previously unpublished poetry, notebook excerpts, and illustrations by Cohen himself. Writing was Cohen’s initial calling and he only turned to music later in life: He released his first album, ///Songs of Leonard Cohen/// (1967), at age 33. He had already enjoyed some degree of public acclaim for his four published poetry collections and his first novel. Between 1967 and 2016 he then released 25 albums, and collaborated on tracks with other accomplished artists such as Herbie Hancock and Bob Dylan. Cohen passed away in November 2016.