This story was included in our November 2023 issue, devoted to some of the best writing The Walrus has published. You’ll find the rest of our selections here.
When the wave of reckonings triggered by #MeToo hit the literary world, we became curious about how CanLit, an institution stocked with provocative personalities, would fare. Which major Canadian book would suddenly become difficult to defend post Weinstein? What sprung most readily to mind was Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers, a novel with the distinction of being intersectionally problematic (it’s racist and sexist). The book is particularly canonical in classrooms because its publication is seen as signalling the arrival of postmodernism in Canada, but it is also increasingly disturbing to teach because of its politics. Myra Bloom signed up for the mission of re-evaluating the novel and Cohen’s mystique as a self-styled ladies’ man more generally. The essay, originally published in April 2018, was especially well timed given the hagiolatry that intensified after Cohen’s death, but Bloom’s nuanced insights into the limits of artistic veneration are just as fresh and valuable today. —Carmine Starnino, interim editor-in-chief, November 2023 issue
