书名：Book of Longing渴望之书

作者：Leonard Cohen莱昂纳德·科恩
出版社名称：Ecco
出版时间：2007
语种：英文
ISBN：9780061125614
商品尺寸：14 x 1.5 x 22.2 cm
包装：平装
页数：240
莱昂纳德·科恩（Leonard Cohen），上世纪六、七十年代美国民谣运动传奇人物，诗人、小说家、民谣歌手、创作人，影响了其后一大批名声赫赫的音乐人。与鲍勃·迪伦并称，而其文学造诣更被普遍认为远高于后者。被认为是“加拿大有史以来重要作家之一”。1968年获得加拿大文学界的高荣誉：总督奖，却拒绝领奖。

Book of Longing《渴望之书》是科恩时隔二十多年后首次出版的诗集。收有大量科恩本人亲笔绘制的插画等。

Review
“Book of Longing has exceptional range. It is clear yet steamy, cosmic yet private, both playful and profound.” —New York Times

“... alive and contradictory... you should read the whole volume...”  —LA Weekly

《纽约时报》评论：“《渴望之书》的书写范畴独特，清晰却又氤氲着水气，辽阔无边却又私密，顽皮却又深刻。”
Leonard Cohen wrote the poems in Book of Longing—his first book of poetry in more than twenty years—during his five-year stay at a Zen monastery on Southern California's Mount Baldy, and in Los Angeles, Montreal, and Mumbai. This dazzling collection is enhanced by the author's playful and provocative drawings, which interact in exciting, unexpected ways on the page with poetry that is timeless, meditative, and often darkly humorous. An international sensation, Book of Longing contains all the elements that have brought Cohen's artistry with language worldwide recognition.

他是诗人。22岁出版第1本诗集《让我们比拟神话》（Let Us Compare Mythologies）。2007年，加拿大Ecco出版社发行复刻本，纪念这本诗集问世50年。
他是小说家。1966年发表《美丽失败者》，书评家盛赞：“乔伊斯还在人间，他以科恩之名在蒙特利尔生活，他以亨利·米勒的角度书写。”
他是歌手、词曲创作者。他写的歌被各界歌手翻唱，至今已有300张以上的音乐专辑收录，仅以翻唱《哈里路亚》一曲的专辑为例，销量已超过500万张。
莱昂纳德·科恩至今出版9本诗集、2本小说、17张音乐专辑。他的作品，在世即为经典。
科恩自70年代开始修禅。1994年起，隐居在伯地山，1996年剃度出家成为禅宗和尚，法号“自闲”。1999年还俗下山。
2008年初夏，74岁的科恩重回舞台，在欧洲巡回演唱，偶尔低吟他的诗句。他说：“我上次在这里，是14年前，那时我60岁，只是个怀抱疯狂梦想的孩子。”2009年，他流浪的脚步即将踏上全世界。
Leonard Cohen’s artistic career began in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. He has published two novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers, and eleven books of poetry, most recently Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, Book of Longing, and Leonard Cohen: Poems and Songs. He has to date released fourteen studio albums, the most recent of which, You Want It Darker, was released in 2016. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and was awarded the Glenn Gould Prize in 2011. Mr. Cohen died in 2016.

You are greater than the Bible
And the Conference of the Birds
And the Upanishads
All put together
You are more severe
Than the Scriptures
And Hammurabi’s Code
More dangerous than Luther’s paper
Nailed to the Cathedral door
You are sweeter
Than the Song of Songs
Mightier by far
Than the Epic of Gilgamesh
And braver
Than the Sagas of Iceland
I bow my head in gratitude
To the ones who give their lives
To keep the secret
The daily secret
Under lock and key
Dear Diary
I mean no disrespect
But you are more sublime
Than any Sacred Text
Sometimes just a list
Of my events
Is holier than the Bill of Rights
And more intense”