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Who was Leonard Cohen? He had many identities: novelist, poet, lyricist, musician, Jewish mystic, Buddhist monk, Canadian, Montrealer, lover (but never a husband), father, and, perhaps above all, a man searching for something we might call meaning or truth in the world he inhabited. Did he find it? By exploring his identities, we will interpret what Cohen left behind, from a “lullaby for suffering” to the broken Hallelujah of a "manual for living with defeat." We will begin with a documentary film, I'm Your Man, that includes many of Cohen's best-known songs performed by other artists, and we will end with the album released before his death, You Want it Darker, which might be described as Cohen having composed and sung his own Kaddish. In between, we will read and discuss, listen and discuss, remembering: "There's a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Download syllabus here.

Led by Maggie Huff-Rouselle.

Maggie Huff-Rouselle has been teaching a course on Leonard Cohen at several lifelong Learning programs, and throughout her career she has had many teaching appointments including one at the Brandeis Heller School. Like Cohen, she is Canadian and has led a nomadic life, living in 10 countries and working in over 50.  She was still a young chick, around 60 years old, when she fell into fascination with Cohen, and the magic continues with these group discussions of this complex and  prolific artist.

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