In this unforgettable novel, Leonard Cohen boldly etches the youth and early manhood of Lawrence Breavman, only son of an old Jewish family in Montreal. Life for Breavman is made up of dazzling colour – a series of motion pictures fed through a high-speed projector: the half-understood death of his father; the adult games of love and war, with their infinite capacity for fantasy and cruelty; his secret experiments with hypnotism; the night-long adventures with Krantz, his beloved comrade and confidant. Later, achieving literary fame as a college student, Breavman does penance through manual labour, but ultimately flees to New York. And although he has loved the bodies of many women, it is only when he meets Shell, whom he awakens to her own beauty, that he discovers the totality of love and its demands, and comes to terms with the sacrifices he must make.
- ISBN10 0948238208
- ISBN13 9780948238208
- Publish Date 14 April 1994 (first published 10 September 1970)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 5 April 2004
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Black Spring Press Ltd
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 256
- Language English