Online Soon: Michael Benazon’s Interview With Leonard Cohen From Fall 1986 Matrix

Leonard Cohen: An Interview And Two Poems
Matrix: Fall 1986

After coming across multiple references to Michael Benazon’s Dec 9, 1985 interview with Leonard Cohen that was published in the Fall 1986 issue of Matrix and finding no online source or readily obtainable print version of it, I finally tracked down a copy and purchased it from a Canadian bookseller.

This intriguing interview includes, among other points, the following:

• Leonard Cohen’s relationship with poet, A.M. Klein
• Klein’s connection to Cohen’s maternal grandfather
• Cohen’s attitude toward poets in general
• The interaction of Judaism, culture, and poetics
• Differentiation of Hebraic from Yiddish
• Cohen’s connectedness with world communities through his songs
• His feelings re Montreal vis-à-vis  local loyalties Vs universal loyalties

And, to paraphrase Leonard Cohen, I have stumbled on the interview, and I’m not the sort of chap who would keep this to himself.

Consequently, I plan to post a PDF of the interview later this week.