De spedalskes ballet

by Leonard Cohen, Louise Ardenfelt Ravild (Translator), Alexandra Pleshoyano (Editor)

I 1963 udkom Leonard Cohens romandebut Yndlingslegen, men allerede i 1956 skrev han den indtil nu uudgivne roman De spedalskes ballet. Senere har Cohen selv udtalt om bogen, at den ”sikkert er en bedre roman end Yndlingslegen”, men det er alligevel først nu, romanen og de medfølgende noveller ser dagens lys. Er man fan af den ældre Cohens helt særlige tekstunivers, så kan man allerede i de tidlige tekster genkende mesterens umiskendelige pen, fokus på det erotiske og de sprøde og filosofiske sætninger.

I De spedalskes ballet bor en mand alene på et værelse i Quebec, indtil han en dag får en besked om, at hans eneste levende familiemedlem er på vej for at bo hos ham, en gammel bedstefar, han aldrig har mødt før. Da den gamle bedstefar står af toget, tager tingene fart. Bedstefaren overfalder en politibetjent verbalt, så spytter han på ham, og da hovedpersonen endelig får fat i ham, når han at slå betjenten i hovedet med sin stok så hårdt, at han synker sammen, og blodet sprøjter. De flygter derfra, hjem til det lille værelse, hvor bedstefar bliver installeret. Han viser sig snart som en, der ingen respekt har for regler og autoriteter, han gør lige præcis, hvad han vil til hver en tid. Hovedpersonen er først forfærdet over bedstefarens opførsel, men snart lader han sig inspirere af den grænseløse slægtning og implementerer hans væremåde i sit eget liv.

Leonard Cohen skriver med en blanding af humor og dyb alvor om nogle af verdens udgrænsede eksistenser.

Indhold:
De spedalskes ballet
Sankt Jig
Okay Herb, okay Flo
Signaler
Polly
Hundred habitter fra Rusland
Ceremonier
Mister Euemer-episoder
Barberingsritualet
Vuggevise
En uge er meget lang tid
Jukebokshjertet
Hvem David?
Novelle på græsk ø
Jeg har haft mange dyr
Sær dreng med hammer
Handel

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Canada, Poetry, Music, Audiobook, Essays

279 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2022

About the author

Leonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963.

Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.

His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.

Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".

Reviews

[Michael -- Justice for Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I have never fully understood my anger. In fact, sometimes I am frightened by it. It is more of a hate than an anger.”

Leonard Cohen left us a treasure of stunning recordings created after he made his mark as an author. “A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories” is composed of earlier unpublished writings. Often when a recording artist dies there is a rush to release any salvageable unfinished work, regardless of whether it is worthwhile or merely a cash grab. This novel, these stories– do they give us any insight into the author… or should they have remained buried in some dusty trunk?

Those only superficially aware of his music may be surprised at the tone here. We will not find Judy Collins singing these verses. With streaks of sadism and violence, this version of Leonard is not one you may want to nudge up to. The voices here belong to loners for the most part and you can see why. The violence is explosive and brutal.

In the opening novella, “A Ballet of Lepers,” we see a cop get beaten, we see women get beaten, the protagonist even punches out his grandfather. At one point he concentrates his focus on a side character, a baggage handler he describes as “stupid and ugly and frightened.” This man evokes a “sharp sensation of hate” surging through his body. We are told this is the first real sensation he has felt in a while, but we are witnessing a man who seems to thrive on extremes. What follows is bullying, harassment, and humiliation all to fulfill a thirst for emotional stimuli.

Fear of intimacy is another prominent theme in these stories. Sex is good, but please, God, don’t ruin things by talking about relationships. After sex he finds it intolerable that his partner analyzes the relationship, performing an autopsy on where things stand. Her physical presence is what he wants– it serves to keep the threat of loneliness at bay. This is a far cry from the “ladies man” mystique which grew around him in his later years (a notion he laughed at).

The recordings of Leonard Cohen took us through nearly fifty years of thought provoking lyrics covering everything from beauty and romance to ugliness and hate. The works in this book tap into passionate hot spots, but are also powerful glimpses into the man working things out in his youth. These are rich, if not always sunny dispatches.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic, Grove Press and NetGalley and Edelweiss for providing advance reader copies in exchange for an honest review. #BalletOfLepers #NetGalley.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early writings of Leonard Cohen mostly written in the 50s including a novella (the title piece) and a bunch of short stories. They cover themes that are common in his other work, often the characters are poets (perhaps altar egos or autobiographical), there are demented old people, alienated and unusual young people, relationships are strange, sex is everything from beautiful to ugly, violent, or just sad. Many of the characters are awful people. The main character in A Ballet of Lepers is just horrible, he humiliates people, he’s cruel and nasty but I found it hard to look away. The writing is compelling in most of the stories and it’s an interesting read for anyone who is a Cohen fan.

[None Ofyourbusiness Loves Israel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A treasure trove of early literary gems, Leonard Cohen's "A Ballet of Lepers and Other Stories" glimmers with the raw, unfiltered brilliance that would later distinguish his illustrious career. The titular novella, "A Ballet of Lepers," is a darkly comedic expedition into familial bonds and societal taboos, where a solitary bookkeeper becomes both repulsed and entranced by his grandfather's anarchic behavior. The novella's humor hits hard, with quick dialogues and episodes such as the grandfather's impromptu dance over a wounded policeman, which Cohen recounts with a blend of admiration and bemusement: "He had danced over the body of a man he had wounded. He had urinated in an alley a few feet from public traffic, an act which would usually disgust me. But now, I was not disgusted. Actually, I laughed with a kind of admiration."

The collection also includes fifteen short stories, each a microcosm of Cohen's fascination with the sacred and profane dimensions of desire. Themes such as the sacredness of the erotic, the bittersweet art of leaving women, Torah, suicide, friendship, loneliness, madness, music, and the allure of Greek islands run like a crimson thread through his tales. In "Saint Jig," Cohen skewers the absurdity of religious fervor, while "O.K. Herb, O.K. Flo" offers a sardonic commentary on the intricacies of romantic entanglements. "Signals" is particularly striking for its exploration of alienation and longing, encapsulating the essence of Cohen's lyrical prowess even in prose. The stories are peppered with references to train stations, policemen, clothes, Judaism, and biblical allusions, creating a rich tapestry of themes that recur throughout his work.

Leonard Cohen, born in Montreal, drew deeply from his formative years in the city, which infused his work with a unique blend of intellectual rigor and street-smart wit. His youth in Westmount, amidst the cultural vibrancy of the city, laid the groundwork for his later literary and musical triumphs. "A Ballet of Lepers and Other Stories" serves as a window into the mind of a young artist who would go on to leave an incredible impact on the world. This book holds particular significance for me, as it helped me understand some of the origins of Cohen's genius and the evolution of his artistic vision I recognized in his songs and his biographies. Reading his own words and literary takes on these events really moved me and made me laugh.

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adott egy híres ember, és adott a híres embernek egy szöveghalma, amit többszöri próbálkozásra sem sikerült kiadatnia. (Bár - aláírom - alighanem még akkor akarta kiadatni, amikor kevésbé volt híres.) Gondolom, nem csak én állok ilyenkor neki úgy, hogy: "Na nézzük, mitől nem jó?" De az a helyzet, hogy jó. A kötet majd felét kitevő kisregény, a Leprások balettje például egyenesen remek: labirintusszerű szerkezet, amibe Kafka és Bukowski bemennek kézenfogva eltévedni. Nyugtalanító mese arról, hogy határaink kompromisszummentes feszegetése óhatatlanul a magány és az őrület szakadékát nyitja meg. És mellesleg még olyan finomságokon is töprenghetünk, hogy az elbeszélő váratlanul megjelenő zavart nagyapja a főhős személyiségének megtükröződése, vagy valódi figura-e? De ha valódi, akkor meg honnan szalajtották?

A novellák se rosszak, sőt. Visszatérő főszereplőjük a szenzitív, önmagát kereső fiatalember (magyarul: az író), akinek fáj, ha nem szeretik, de ha szeretik, akkor meg nem tud mit kezdeni vele. Ismerős típus, nem? Mindenesetre Cohen elég öniróniával rendelkezik ahhoz, hogy ezt a figurát helyén kezelje, hogy mást ne mondjak, maga definiálja a típust legpontosabban:

"Van annyi humorérzékem, hogy egy olyan fiatalembert lássak, aki egy Stendhal-regényből lép elő, hajlik a ripacskodásra, kényelmetlen erekcióval sétál el."

Szóval nemigen értem ezt. Komolyan, itthon Kovács Ákos elbeszéléskötetet adat ki és filmet rendez, Cohen meg ezekre nem talált kiadót? Hogy van ez? Ja, mondjuk lehet, csak nem a megfelelő emberekkel barátkozott.

[So_Unhip_Shan · Rating 2 out of 5]

One Saturday afternoon while perusing the kitchen and bath store known as Indigo, I ran into this volume. Armed with $260 worth of gift cards in one hand, and a soon-to-be-mine citrus zester, I swept it off the shelf, and made my way through the purses, hats, crafts, candles, and exercise equipment to the til.

Having previously read only Cohen's poems, I wasn't sure what to expect: Leonard Cohen is a poet, to be sure, and a beautiful one at that. It shines through in all his prose. Take this passage for example, "We spoke so that we could become tender. It was not the kind of tenderness which follows passion, but the kind which follows failure." Beautiful!

Putting beautiful prose aside, Cohen seemed obsessed with the darkest, most violent, and weirdly sexual themes. There was too much depravity and violence for me to actually enjoy this book of posthumously published work. Maybe there is a reason it was left unpublished, after he rose to fame, while he was still alive...

[Biddy Mahy]

Somehow writes like a woman and a bachelor

[Armine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful writing about ugly things. Here, Leonard Cohen is borderline Bukowskian in his passages on women, so I hesitate to openly recommend this work. I believe I enjoyed this more than I normally would, having recently revisited Montreal and walked the same streets as Cohen’s characters. However, even without being spatially situated, I never grew tired of these short stories. Instead, I was drawn to the depraved internal worlds of their narrators. I laughed aloud at the candid examination of the deceit necessary to uphold most relationships and maintain the sanity of most people:

“‘I'm so old, God, I'm so old.’
She lay in my uncovered arms.
‘You are beautiful,’ I lied compassionately. ‘You will always be beautiful.’”

I laughed at the cruel candor of the hopeless, noncommittal types I am all too familiar with:

“What was the use of pretending or making up silly theories about a love based on complete familiarity? Why should we be any different from the rest? They part who exchange promises of eternity as surely as they who have the honesty to remain silent.”

Mostly, I felt the lingering loneliness inherited by the children of those who left the Old Country:

“As I grow older, I realize how monumental was their individual isolation. They even refused to develop a private vocabulary of facial expressions. When my mother tried to use her beautiful eyes and hands to describe something, my father said, "No, no, begin again, English." No subtleties, no intimacies, no secrets- they died, I'm sure, of loneliness.”

[leni swagger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leonard Cohen might not be the love of my life anymore…

"A Ballet of Lepers" was disturbing, shocking, and not at all what I had expected.

It’s filled with violence, and the characters in the book get a thrill from hurting and abusing the people in their lives. Cohen tried to be edgy and dark but failed to get the actual message across.

As this one was published posthumously, I choose to believe that Cohen didn’t want it to be published. He’ll just be the king of lyricism and poetry to me.

The short stories were fine but not memorable in any way.

[Monica Cabral · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Não há homem à face da Terra que nunca se tenha entregado a fantasias de violência. O poder por intermédio da violência,  que sonho inebriante!"

O narrador deste romance é um homem de 35 anos com uma vida pessoal banal e monótona. Um dia recebe um telefonema dos cuidadores do seu avô paterno que perante a impossibilidade de continuarem a cuidar dele, informam-lhe que o avô vai ter que ir morar com ele. Ora, o nosso protagonista não conhece o avô,  nem sabia que ele era vivo e não tem condições para o receber mas mesmo assim aceita de coração ter que cuidar deste avô desconhecido e recebê-lo no seu pequeno quarto alugado.
A chegada deste avô à sua vida vai mudar completamente a visão do mundo que tinha, o avô é um homem desbocado e violento, o que desperta algo em si, levando-o a cometer actos violentos e obsessivos.
Um Balé de Leprosos,  o romance,  é uma exploração da violência e da beleza,  do amor e da crueldade, da obsessão e da renúncia.  O romance em si é tenso e disseca a instabilidade psicológica do narrador e a sua descida "ao Inferno ".
Os contos inseridos neste livro vão desde os mais simples e aborrecidos, aos mais complexos e desafiadores. O meu preferido é "Polly", um vislumbre perspicaz da paixão jovem da perspectiva de um menino. 
Este romance e contos foram escritos por Leonard Cohen entre 1956 e 1961 quando tinha vinte e poucos anos mas já se notava um pouco a genialidade que Cohen colocou na sua poesia, romances e canções.

[Rafael Estepa · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Llegó a entender que, para él, la pasión era un delicado equilibrio entre el atractivo y la repulsión.” Debo ser sincero, el libro no me ha gustado especialmente. A nivel edición es raro comenzar con una novela corta y continuar leyendo relatos. La obra, en general, me resulta excesivamente violenta e incómoda. La narrativa muy poética. En demasiadas ocasiones he sentido que rompía el pacto de ficción y me sacaba, en cierto modo, de las tramas de los relatos. Un lenguaje muy lírico y bello, muy trabajado para ser escritos de su edad temprana, pero, no en pocas ocasiones, me perdía de la historia.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Голос Коэна - в каждой фразе, эту интонацию невозможно эмулировать. При том, что это ранние его тексты, преимущественно до 1960 года, а повесть была и вообще до "Любимой игры". Но ритмизованная проза уже совершенно безошибочно мастерская и его.

Spring was definitely on the city. There seemed to be people at every corner, just lingering. Young men, with greased hair and open shirts, stood against walls and plotted fantastic orgies with every passing female. Old men clustered around public benches and set up new governments

Удивительным образом роман между героем и героиней тут тоже, как и у Петрова в "Турдейской", насквозь литературен, но зеркален: слова и образы генерирует Мэрилин, героя-рассказчика тянет к простому бытию. А функцию войны выполняет дедушка, который "освобождает" героя своей тягой к насилию  (прочесть две эти повести подряд оказалось интересно, так совпало). Ну и обычные неоднозначные мучительные отношения всех со всеми, как у Коэна везде - и в песнях, и в стихах, и в романах.

Ну и совсем волшебные рассказы - вполне автобиографические, но с отзвуками многого - и Карвера, и Джойса, и Бартелми, и кого не (ну и немного Кафки там растворено везде, куда ж без окаянного Кафки - особенно в рассказах про мистера Юмера-рифмуется-с-тумором):

All day, they carry their unwritten novels and unpainted pictures around in their heads.

И это в целом осколки и грани жизни совершенно особого куска жизни и культуры во времени - золотая джазовая творческая молодежь провинциального Монреалья в 50е - средоточия совершенно иной для нас вселенной. И да, чудесные рассказы о детстве, такие бы надо в любую школьную хрестоматию.

И прекрасный греческий рассказ о тусовке этаких международных постбитницких экспатов ("плавник" как он их называет) на Идре. А также рассказик (вернее набросок), в котором Коэн написал типа фантастику (на самом деле нет - это скорее еврейская притча), за что его русские любители, не знающие другой литературы, несомненно причислят к лику фантастов.

[Finnegan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is important to review this book under a specific lens: Leonard Cohen did not publish these stories, and thus in some way or another, they were not ready for the public eye. As such, there is a certain amount of leeway that can be granted here. The book consists of a short novel, and a variety of short stories with varying topics and characters.

The main novel, A Ballet of Lepers, is indistinguishably a Leonard Cohen piece. From the first sentence, his poetic and dramatized seeps through every line. Romantic and hopelessly artistic descriptions of both divine beauty and mundanely asinine normalities scatter throughout each paragraph, providing a good view of the artistry of his work. You can tell it is from early in his writing career, as his skills as a fiction writer develop throughout the book. At the beginning, sentences contain single, brief clauses or ideas, and are short, abrasive, abrupt. As the story progresses, sentences become longer, ideas become stretched out, ideas become more succinct, and the story begins to flow more naturally.

One thing about the novel is that I really did enjoy it. I was driven by the story, intrigued by the characters, and once I had figured out what was happening behind the overly romantic descriptions, could not stop reading. That being said, after reading the book, I was left with a strange feeling: I did not agree with the lesson being told here.

Cohen, in this novel, seems to convey love as a violent and cowardly thing to do. In this book, relationships are described less as love and more as an eventual necessity; when someone becomes too bored, too tired, too old to continue pursuing others, a relationship becomes a sad eventuality. I do not agree with this, however, it has been a fulfilling perspective to try and reason with.

I think the core component behind the violence and cowardice present and associated with love in this novel is the idea of loneliness. Nobody wants to be lonely, something that I find ironic considering that the relationships described in this novel (the supposed solution to this problem) seem to be the loneliest of all. From this perspective, the narrator seems to view love as a pointless endeavor altogether. That being said, reflection upon this idea has led me to some equally positive ones. If I could talk to the narrator, I would express that love should not be a solution to anything, especially loneliness. Love is an opportunity, something that presents itself to you and takes over completely. To look for love, means you are looking for a solution. Love has to come to you, and when it does, it is happy, hopeful, romantic, and inspiring - none of which are feelings or ideas shared with the narrator. This type of love is an addition to a life moving forward, not a solution to part of a life in the past.

Unfortunately, the short stories did not hit the mark for me. There were a select few I quite enjoyed; Saint Jig, the stories with Mr. Eumer, and Short Story on Greek Island. However, I felt that the overly artistic and dramatic writing style did not lend itself as well to short story form, as it became difficult to follow what was happening, who was talking, and what the story way. The stories listed above were concrete about the characters, the plot, and and setting, which made them much more digestible to read. The short stories also diverged a little bit from the hopeless rhetoric of the novel, although sometimes in an equally negative direction. Short Story on Greek Island I found especially interesting, and really enjoyed the setting, but did not escape the association between violence and love that I find a bit jarring in this setting. Similarly, the stories of Mr. Eumer were interesting and fully fleshed out, but felt uncomfortable at times. Saint Jig, I would love to read a full book of.

Although the messaging of the book may not have resonated with me, it prompted some valuable reflection. I read this book in its entirety side by side with my lovely girlfriend. We talked with each other about how the book made us feel, and our thoughts on love and how it was portrayed here. I appreciated the opportunity to connect in this way, and it made me grateful that the love that found me was an opportunity, not a solution.

[Diane Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book comprises some of Cohen’s early writings; a novella and 16 short stories. The novella reminded me of L’Étranger by Albert Camus. There is the same sense of alienation, of a failure to fit into accepted norms and a desire for intimacy which the author cannot achieve. The stories are similar, beautifully written, but strange and often unsettling. I’m not sure I enjoyed this book, but it was certainly interesting.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

they part who exchange promises of eternity as surely as they who have the honesty to remain silent. last year's beloveds are the same as this year's. it is only the lovers who have changed. love is constant, only the lovers change. i sometimes picture the whole thing as a great game of musical chairs. when the music stops, a few, very few unfortunate ones, cannot continue in the game; the rest find a place to sit before the music starts again. in the scramble, of course, there are bruised knees and hearts, even an assault or a murder, and literature is composed of these casualties but usually one chair is as good as another.

comprised of the titular novel, 15 short stories, and a single playscript, a ballet of lepers is the second posthumous collection of writing by canadian singer-songwriter and author leonard cohen — following 2018's the flame. written between 1956 and 1961, when cohen was in his early and mid-twenties, these previously unpublished pieces find the young wordsmith exploring themes that would later define both his poetry and music, including sex and romantical yearning, individuality and life without limitation, violence and brutality. cohen's black humor is present throughout and a certain youthful vigor (that matured into a sagely enlightenment over the decades to come) lend these early writings a perhaps less-perfected quality when compared to his exacting, precise lyrical compositions. "a ballet of lepers" is the book's strongest and most impressive entry, but several of the stories — including "saint jig," "signals," "polly," and "mister euemer episodes" — are excellent.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5! I love Leonard Cohen! Such a beautiful book that deserves more recognition… Having lived in Montreal, reading this book felt especially intimate and nostalgic for me as many of the stories take place there <3

“Your eyes are trained for continents. Half my bed is too little empire for your imperial appetite. I will always imagine you in the air, at the summit of a mountain or on the roof of a great Manhattan hotel.”

[Mariana Jimenez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exquisite for the most part. In respect to what remains, it was interesting to see how it contributed to his larger body of work.

[jp arsenault · Rating 4 out of 5]

a cute guy rec me this book, otherwise i would never have read it. it's was weird and cool, tho.

[Arlette Roos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hier en daar heel mooi poëtisch, maar wel een beetje ongezellige verhaallijnen telkens (waarvan ik er een paar ook niet helemaal begreep). Hou t verder toch maar bij zijn muziek geloof ik :)

[Wolfe Tone · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

I prefer Cohen as a poet and a singer, but this was still an interesting look into the mind of the young Leonard. Some stories work very well, some less so.

[Alex Sarll]

Various early writings (1956-61) from Leonard Cohen, in which you can absolutely see the same mind and sensibility that would so enrich the world through his music, while also having a pretty good idea why they've remained in the vault up to now. The title piece is a short novel, which begins in classic Cohen territory, sex and mortality waltzing together: "For a minute or two, we inspected our thirty-five-year-old bodies. And truly at that moment our flesh, flesh which we all know dies swiftly and unlovely, was beautiful." There's rueful wisdom: "They part who exchange promises of eternity as surely as they who have the honesty to remain silent. Last year's beloveds are the same as this year's, it is only the lovers who have changed." There is a man writing in blissful ignorance of the notion that, in a supposedly more liberated future, there would one day be such a thing as the Bad Sex Award: "Sweat is perfume, groans are gold, gasps are bells, shudders are silver. I wouldn't have traded this for the ravages of the loveliest swan." But the stretches of a Cohen at once still forming and yet bordering on self-parody haven't quite found the appropriate chassis yet. The plot - a man who sleeps in his clothes to save time, then makes his colleague look bad with the fastidious boss; a horny young man forced to forego his privacy in order to put up his outrageously violent and ill-mannered grandfather, yet still grumpily fornicating in the shared room – feels much more like a knockabout US comedy film. Is this a record of the incongruous inner life of the star of a nineties gross-out movie? The more we see of the awful ancestor, the more he feels like a realistic – and thus considerably less amusing – reboot of Father Jack. Soon, the narrator is treating the old man as some kind of stinking oracle, finding romance with Marilyn a chore compared to the delights of stalking a baggage clerk he's taken against. There is a distance between narrator and author but, I suspected, never quite as much as the author might have liked – perhaps one reason why the older, wiser author never saw fit to publish this while he was still with us. Especially when it gives the impression of having been abandoned with an ending which, while it can't altogether be called unfair or random, does retrospectively confer on the whole enterprise the air of a grotesque shaggy dog story.

The rest of the book comprises one radio play – which seems somehow incongruous, even though it was with words and voices that Cohen would go on to make his name, and even though here it's not formatted as one anyway – and assorted short stories, mostly at the shorter end of the spectrum. Some have distinct overlap with the novel, whether that be the fascination with deformity in Saint Jig or the senile, incontinent grandfather in A Hundred Suits From Russia. Elsewhere, it's more general, vignettes of callow jealousy and performative heartbreak, not dross exactly but (with the possible exception of the especially autobiographical The Jukebox Heart) a long way from the gold into which their author would later refine such concerns. Several follow Mister Euemer, an everyman figure one could easily see becoming the spine of Cohen's career in an alternate world where his career followed Updike more than Dylan, and his wife; the best of these is the emotional rollercoaster of Lullaby: "Into the night, she wept for the youth she thought she had been cheated of, and for the spires, towers, canals, and hills she would never see, and she wept secretly for the romances in obscure village inns which she would never enjoy." But I think my favourite of the lot may be Polly, a tangled little tale of burgeoning sexuality which also manages to feel weirdly like rebadged slash of Taskmaster, a programme it preceded by more than half a century.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before this book I had only read Cohen’s poetry and listened to his music, delving into these short stories gives you a better understanding of the man who wrote the mighty “Hallelujah”. That song was constantly on my mind as I read about these characters and witnessed what was going on in their heads and in their lives, there is a constant underlying sadness in everything they do, each short story is a snapshot of a moment that finds it’s way under your skin.

A week is a very long time captures the beauty of Cohen’s words. A couple stood nude at a window witnessing a man down on the street hunting for a cat, in a few lines their whole relationship becomes understood and as the scenes with the cat hunter conclude you can see only one way the story for the couple can end. Pure brilliance.

The short novel story A Ballet of Lepers made for easy reading, a destructive grandpa arriving in the protagonist’s life turns this story on it’s head, the Grandpa’s input is only small but it dominates everything. I really enjoyed it and for some reason, I’m not sure why, as soon as the Grandpa makes his entrance I had an elderly Bukowski pictured. A good story with a satisfying conclusion.

If you are a fan of Cohen then you gotta read this book and maybe then try some poems with The Energy Of Slaves.

Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2025...

[Toby Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 2.5 but this rating is absent.

I’m a great fan of Leonard Cohen’s music, hence my interest in reading his prose… this, this is quite different.

Don’t get me wrong, you can tell it’s Leonard. His consistent themes in his songs, from alienation to sexual desire and womanliness, are all present here, though there’s an ugliness you get from his words, a violence of spirit.

The story of the novel(la), A Ballet of Lepers, is not really present. It’s more like it has a concept and scenes populate it that serve said concept. It’s also, as reviews have pointed out, rather humourless. I saw a remark, made somewhere I cannot recall, about how Cohen was the only Jew who had not an ounce of humour in his prose. I can see where they’re coming from…

A lot of the short stories, as well, offer little in emotional resonance. There are a lot of very pretty and elaborate sentences, though to what purpose? I could cite one or two of the stories that had any impact aside from mere appreciation.

Cohen’s gift was his poetry. He could squeeze so much meaning into so few words. You listen to a song like Hallelujah and that’s clear. Over the novel, his poetry is diluted and his strength falters. I am glad I read it, at least to experience it myself, but I doubt I shall return.

[Alice He]

Leonard Cohen slays

[Daniel Recasens Salvador · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suposo que només pel fet de ser Cohen ja té mitja feina feta, però el fet és que el conjunt evidencia el talent per explicar històries i construir personatges. I traduït per la Míriam Cano!

[Alex Sjerven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leonard Cohen hates women

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this unreleased collection of works by the iconic singer, musician and poet Leonard Cohen.

As a person, I have always been of two minds on material that the artist did not want shared with the world, especially coming after the artists death. Why should the artists' estate, agents, publishers make money in an obvious cash grab on things the artist felt uncomfortable about. As a fan I should respect the artists choice. However I have a ton of music bootlegs, studio sessions live songs never released by artists, and collections of stories by authors who never wanted them shown. So like most Americans I am a hypocrite, because honestly I am a fan more than a person and I want it all. A Ballet of Lepers is a collection by singer, songwriter and really cool guy Leonard Cohen, of stories and one novel when he reckoned he was more a man of letters than he was a performer. A book that shows the artists honing his craft and finding themes that would make up some of his most famous songs.

Written between the years of 1956-1961 readers can see the artist trying to find both his voice and his medium. And probably hoping to make a few books selling these to magazines. The book contains one novel, A Ballet of Lepers, a radio show, a precursor to podcasts for the young people, and fourteen short stories. A few of these stories follow the life of Mister Euemer and his wife, in situations that are mostly sad, but also reflective of life and love. Some features obvious Cohen stand-ins again about love, and life, with a lot of repetition of these themes. The novel is a story that is both funny, and odd. Something David Lynch could direct, or maybe the Farrelly Brothers. A man is tracked down in his bording house to be told that his Grandfather, who he had no idea was still alive, is being shipped Montreal where the man lives, as the family watching and caring for him is basically tired of him. From there hilarity kind of ensues.

The writing is both honest, and surprisingly shocking for the era that they were written in. Sudden violence, odd sexual thoughts, and again more honesty than expected. The novel is both funny, odd and sad, sometimes in the same paragraph. I think it really would be a good movie. Though it does stick with one even a day later. The other stories are good also, but again some of the ideas are repeated, which is interesting because you can see how the artist was trying to find a direction. The writing is very good in some places, both visual, almost too visual, and yet still with a feeling of distance, as if Cohen was wondering how much to revel. Which in some stories he revealed quite a bit.

An interesting collection of older works that shows the artist finding himself. Fans of Leonard Cohen will be sure to enjoy this, if not for the look back at what was, and what might have been, and also for the gift of one last work by an artist they enjoy.

[Sean Kottke · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I heard of a saint who had loved you
So I studied all night in his school
He taught that the duty of lovers
Is to tarnish the golden rule”
- “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong”

This collection is worth reading more to see Cohen working out ideas that would ultimately find their ultimate expression in his songs than it is to enjoy on its own. Proof that Cohen the storyteller was really at his best in song and in casual anecdotes. His big themes get a workout throughout: the carnal complementing and conflicting with the spiritual, being humbled by the cruelty of lovers, struggling between base instincts and pretensions of higher aspirations. This is the darker, earlier Cohen, more “Diamonds in the Mine” than “Anthem.” Put on “Songs,” “Songs of Love and Hate,” or “Recent Songs,” and find tighter, more resonant takes on Cohen’s obsessions than find expression in longer narratives. There’s something of a Montreal “Dubliners” in the arrangement of stories of down and out Québécois. And Cohen just gets human nature in all its ugliness and glory, making for some uncomfortable emotional honesty, particularly in the titular novella.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Leonard Cohen. The work is chaotic and reminiscent of Richard Brautigan. The small novel was quite moving and weird. I loved it. The short stories were okay. Felt a bit underwhelming. He was so talented at capturing a moment.

[Brett Wallach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cohen is a good songwriter, but he’s too pretentious to be great. Same with his prose. His facility with the English language is terrific. But a story which glorifies abuse against women can’t be all good.

[Boyan Popov · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short stories are ok, though not particularly memorable. The novella is absurd and unpleasant, but compelling. Thematically similar to much of his work, but more vulgar - some of his earliest writing. Worth reading for fans. A better poet than a writer.