God, Sex, and Politics in the Work of Leonard Cohen

On the fifth anniversary of the death of the iconic Leonard Cohen, author of “Hallelujah” and many other works, Marcia Pally’s new study explores Cohen’s thoughtscape through 60 years of song, poetry, and novels. Cohen understood humanity as a relational being, indeed as covenantal, and despaired at our breaches of the relationships we need in both our personal and political lives. Psychologist Carol Gilligan’s work over half a century has explored our relationship to relationship, our iterations of need and withdrawal–and its personal and political consequences. Gilligan and Pally will discuss how Cohen gave voice to this human condition and what his staggering imagery offers us in grappling with our own predicaments.

From this Broken Hill I Sing To You: God, Sex, and Politics in the Work of Leonard Cohen (T&T Clark/Bloomsbury Academic, 2021)