Who By Fire: War, Atonement, and the Resurrection of Leonard Cohen

In early October 1973, Montreal poet, novelist and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), trapped in unhappy domesticity and fearing his career was stuck and his songs were not working, flew to Israel as that country had just come under a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in what is known as the Yom Kippur War. The author points out that almost nothing has been written about what may have been one of the key experiences and turning points in Cohen's life. In Tel Aviv, Cohen joined a group of musicians who went to the front lines of the war to entertain the Israeli troops. The author interviewed Israeli front-line veterans of the war who witnessed what he calls "one of the strangest concert tours in the annals of rock," and how it impacted their lives. The author also accessed an unpublished manuscript, now kept at McMaster University, written by Cohen during the war. The author maintains Cohen "walked into a war in the Middle East, changed the people who saw him and changed himself." Cohen's presence on the front lines of the war made him a beloved figure in Israel, perhaps its most revered foreign artist. The author contends that Cohen went into the war believing he might be finished as "the poet of rock," hoping for some kind of renewal. Incredibly, the author concludes, it seems to have worked.

Toronto, ON

McClelland & Stewart

2022

224p.

en

978-0-7710-9626-6