BL walkthrough
Snow
WARNING !
I have tried not to spoil the enjoyment of anyone planning
to read this book, but as I fail in most of what I do it
might be best for such people to not read below this line.
_________________________________________________
To anyone considering reading Beautiful Losers, it should be
noted that the language and perversity of some passages must
undoubtedly be considered as highly offensive. To those who
are, for one reason or another, unable to become familiar
with Leonard Cohen's complex second novel, I have made a
simple "walkthrough - and I believe this is the first time
this has been done. I also believe it is poor, but
nevertheless hope it is of some value to someone, and I
apologise for any errors.
The novel is divided into three books:
Book One: The History of Them All
This is the first of the three books comprising the work. A
rich collection of more than fifty vignettes in which the
narrator remembers primarily his wife Edith and his friend,
F. - both deceased. The recollections, written from a
Montreal treehouse, parallel and interchange with
comparisons to the seventeenth century Mohawk Indian,
Catherine Tekakwitha.
1
Opening declaration of love to Catherine Tekakwitha and
remembering the death of F.
2
A luckless tribe called "The A-----s", who's very name
became a synonym for loser.
3
Catherine's influence and connection to the Church.
4
First insight into F.'s sexual attitude.
5
Edith commits suicide at the bottom of an elevator shaft,
and F. confesses to having had a relationship with her.
6
A night with F. as he paints a plaster model of the
Akropolis with red nail varnish.
7
Edith stands naked in the middle of the room after coating
herself with red grease.
8
The eating of priests, etc., and Catherine's capture by the
Iroquois.
9
Homosexual acts with F., who tried to claim he was born
female.
10
Pure prose, concerning things which were wanted.
11
The sexual atmosphere Catherine must have witnessed in the
Iroquois long house.
12
Describing how four-year-old Catherine's face became
pock-marked when a plague ravaged her Mohawk tribe; and
remembering how F. tauntingly told of how he and Edith
invented the erotic telephone dance at the System Theatre -
plus a list of the different things found in Edith's navel.
13
Suffering with constipation.
14
F. buys a tailoring factory.
15
Intermingled thoughts concerning Catherine's daily life and
of F. and Edith, culminating in accusations against the
modern Catholic Church.
16
The conniving aunts plan a trap for virginal Catherine.
17
Prose, addressed to, and praising, God. Each word given a
capital letter.
18
The gift of an English-Greek phrase book from F.
19
Four men chase thirteen-year-old Edith into the woods.
20
When eating with a man who is in mourning.
21
The box of fireworks inherited from F.
22
Lighting one of the fireworks.
23
More prose addressed to God with capital lettered words.
24
Hand burned after lighting another firework.
25
The notorious "Pigskin crackling" piece, in which explodes a
tirrade of stuttering longing. Love and loneliness erupt
into seemingly unconnected words, demonstrating acute
difficulty in stating a taboo desire. Absolutely one of the
novel's many highlights.
26
Learning about "Tekakwitha's Spring".
27
The twenty-seventh day; a short and cheerless journal entry.
28
A shorter and even more cheerless journal entry.
29
F. sends away for Charles Axis' (Charles Atlas) muscle
building course after seeing an advertisement in a comic.
30
Listening to the radio playing the Gavin Gate (Marvin Gaye)
song 'It Hurt Me Too'.
31
Who was the King of France? A brief meditation.
32
French troops and missionaries invade Mohawk territory.
33
Prose concerning religious medals.
34
A Jesuit priest shows the Mohawks a painting depicting the
horrors of purgatory awaiting those who do not conform to
Christianity.
35
Mohawks are slowly coerced into accepting the Church's
doctrine.
36
An examination of the world in 1675, and questions
concerning death.
37
A priest calling at Catherine's cabin is possessed by "The
Shadow", resulting in foot fetishism and Catherine's request
to be baptized.
38
Prose in the form of a questioning prayer, again with
capital lettered words.
39
A very hazardous drive to Ottawa with F.
40
Deliberating upon what a saint is.
41
Catherine is baptized and Edith is missed.
42
Catherine accidentally knocks over a glass of wine.
43
Origins of the word "apocalyptic", followed by various
homages, and ending with F.'s cure for warts.
44
Naked under a sunlamp with clothed Edith and F., who use a
syringe on themselves. Then the discovery in Edith's drawer
of three advertisement coupons; two for leg development and
one for Lourdes water.
45
Prose, inspired by the absence of a radio and becoming out
of touch with the Top Ten hit parade. Then Catherine is
sitting with her sick uncle, who tells her about Oscotarach,
the head-piercer.
46
[There is no 46]
47
The year is 1964. A physical attack by F., demanding to know
why he alone sent for the Charles Axis' muscle building
course all those years ago. Afterwards, what happened when
mixing with tightly-packed French nationalists at a
demonstration against Queen Elizabeth's planned visit to
Montreal.
48
A prose essay of mixed thoughts and questions, encompassing
numerology, astrology, torture, accounts of how the bodies
of saints do not decompose, and F.'s humorous story of the
girl with long pubic hair.
49
Catherine's sick uncle is healed by participating in a mass
orgy after claiming that he had dreamed such an experience
would cure him.
50
F. is accused and resented. He departs after telling of a
suicidal plan to blow up Montreal's statue of Queen Victoria
in protest against Queen Elizabeth's forthcoming state
visit.
51
Rich abstract prose, in the form of an attempted telepathic
call to Catherine.
52
Beseeching Catherine with a phrase-book at the wash house,
tobacconists, barber's shop, post-office, telegraphic-office
and bookseller's. Then, finally, with Greek translations, at
the drug-store.
Book Two: A Long Letter from F.
The middle section of the three books begins with a long
confessional letter from the lecherous F. which his lawyers
had been instructed to deliver five years after his death.
It was written from an occupational therapy room at a
hospital for the criminally insane, purportedly while
simultaneously pleasuring a nurse called Mary Voolnd. The
text is masterfully composed, in parts highly emotional,
almost always humorous, and includes the famous "God is
alive, magic is afoot" prose. F. also explains about the
fireworks and collection of soaps he had bequeathed. Here,
too, can be found the much discussed Danish vibrator (DV)
incident - F.'s science fictional account of what happened
when he and Edith spent a secret weekend at an Argentian
hotel, his role being her beautician. The methods and books
he used to excite Edith are listed, and graphic details of
how two Jesuit priests were tortured to death is also
recorded as heightening her arousal. The letter moves on to
hint at F. being Oscotarach the head-piercer, and states his
longing for the independence of Québec. He finishes by
enclosing documentation of the last four years of Catherine
Tekakwitha's life and the ensuing miracles. This is preceded
by two short addresses: "F.'s Invocation to History in the
Old Style" and "F.'s Invocation to History in the Middle
Style" - the latter having seven explanatory footnotes. F.'s
documentation is as follows:
1
It is 1677. After hearing of a Christian mission at the
village of Sault, Catherine leaves home.
2
Catherine's arrival at Sault.
3
It is made known that Catherine is expected to marry.
4
Severe practices of penitence are described, of which
Catherine willingly participates.
5
Catherine does not understand why she has a need to suffer.
6
Catherine walks alone in the beautiful nature, the whole
time asking the same question.
7
A footnote from a book published in 1867 concerning research
into the capacity of skulls is reproduced.
8
How Catherine's best friend at Sault, Marie-Thérèse, came to
be there.
9
The two best friends examine each other's bodies.
10
Catherine stops eating on Wednesdays, and complains that
Marie-Thérèse does not whip her hard enough.
11
Converted Indians refusing to fight the French are burnt at
the stake.
12
Catherine secretly extends her fasting. F. gives examples of
other people who did not eat, and says that Edith was
bulimic.
13
Catherine's health deteriorates, and she is encouraged not
to perform her penitence so rigorously. She formally offers
her body to Jesus and his mother.
14
It is discovered that Catherine is sleeping with thorns.
15
F. pauses in his documentation to ponder upon the
information he supplies and to ask questions.
16
Catherine is dying and receives absolution. The entire
village file past her with their own private prayers.
17
Catherine is dead. The pock-marks on her face disappear.
18
F. again takes a pause from facts and makes miscellaneous
statements, before describing Catherine's funeral and the
hysteria which followed.
19
[There is no 19]
20
The testimony of Captain du Luth, cured of gout after
praying in Catherine's name.
21
Obscure hopes from F. hinting at reincarnation.
22
The first visions of Catherine resurrected.
23
Miracles attributed to belief in Catherine.
24
F.'s documentation ends by detailing the fate of the mission
at Sault after Catherine's death. He then moves onto a
personal level, discussing vegetarianism and the System
Theatre cinema. The concluding paragraphs mention an oily
package, a radio, and Mary Voolnd becoming seriously mauled
by police dogs as a terrorist leader escapes from the
hospital.
Book Three: Beautiful Losers
The ambiguous third and final section, from which the novel
takes its name, has the essence of multi-interpretational
cult literature.
It is spring-time in a forest south of modern Montréal. An
old man with pedophilic tendencies is visted at his
treehouse home by a seven-year-old boy acquaintance, who
says that the police now know about him. The man hitch-hikes
a lift into the city, the car being driven by a woman who
does little to discourage his lecherous intentions. In
Montréal he enters the System Theatre and has a paranormal
experience. Afterwards he slips into an amusement arcade and
becomes the cause of pandemonium, amidst which he
confusingly disintegrates into a Ray Charles movie.
Next, in both French and English language, comes the Jesuits
demand for the official beatification of Catherine
Tekakwitha.
The end is a short address to the living and the dead.
_________________________________________________
g
Barbara
Love
Barbara
x
"Snow" <ak...@0nline.no> wrote in message
news:gouk7.7627$1T5....@news1.oke.nextra.no...
> BEAUTIFUL LOSERS - a walkthrough.
>
> WARNING !
> I have tried not to spoil the enjoyment of anyone planning
> to read this book, but as I fail in most of what I do it
> might be best for such people to not read below this line.
> _________________________________________________
<snip>
Snow
>Thanks for this g! I'm going to attempt read-through #2!
>Love
>Barbara
>x
Barbara, thank you for this. I have been so worried that
someone would write something bad to me - and it was quite a
lot of work to make. Maybe you can print my "walkthrough"
out and use it as a sort of guide - if it would help. Keep
it inside the page you have reached. Do not be disgruntled
if you cannot get through Beautiful Losers - it is not an
ordinary straight-forward novel. I do not completely
understand it myself. You know I can in a way understand why
he never wrote another novel after this. It's deceivingly
complex. Three hundred years between two of the main
characters, Catherine and Edith - I wonder sometimes if they
were the same. Catherine was chased into the woods - it was
planned by her aunts - they wanted her to have intercourse
with that hunter. And Catherine was chased into the woods by
those four men. Catherine had pock-marks and Edith had
acne - at least until F. came with his soaps. Was F. the
head-piercer? Was F.'s tree-house the head-piercer's hut?
Was it history repeating itself? Is there reincarnation,
resurrection? Catherine and Edith both died when they were
twenty-four, you know. It's just that who is there I can to
talk to? Even in the author's own newsgroup I feel alone
with it. Bill Van Dyk is a blessing. What would there be
without him? I don't know anyone else in the world. Please
read it Barbara. Please read it. But even if you don't it
will still be all right.
Love gx
Barbara
you?"
"Snow" <ak...@0nline.no> wrote in message
news:Cowk7.7735$1T5....@news1.oke.nextra.no...
Jim Rotonda
"Snow" <ak...@0nline.no> wrote in message
news:gouk7.7627$1T5....@news1.oke.nextra.no...
> BEAUTIFUL LOSERS - a walkthrough.
Snow
Least there be any doubt that your efforts are appreciated; thank you from
me too.
I have read passages and chapters, (some of which had me laughing out loud).
I'm going to give it another try, and I have a friend reading it, I'm going
to send her you guide.
Thanks again.
Jim
Dick
BRILLIANT effort snowman -- please add my thanks to those of Barb and Jim
I too have printed it out
I have also carefully placed it in the front of my new "reading" copy of
Beautiful Losers -- but I agree LC must appreciate your tear and
coffee-stained and marked-up copy to my preserved collectibles.
Dick
dar
was younger, along with Freud's Interpretation of Dreams (when I was
13 or so) trying to look cool. O, and I always wore some kind of hat.
Imagine that one on a 15 year old, who thought she was 25! Anyway,
now I can finally be cool. Thanks to your guide. Although I'm 40
plus now, trying to act 15. Go figure.
XO,
Dar
Constance Kuriyama
Yes, it was a thoughtful gesture. It gives some sense of the possible
interconnections between what might seem disconnected, and so works
well as a preview or point of reference.
Now all I have to do is find time to read the book. Like Jim, I found some
excerpts (the ones included in _Stranger Music_) quite amusing, and wondered
if they were representative or exceptional.
Connie K.
--
"Philosophy is odious and obscure."--Christopher Marlowe, _Doctor Faustus_
Snow
>BRILLIANT effort snowman - please add my thanks to those of
Barb and Jim. I too have printed it out. I have also
carefully placed it in the front of my new "reading" copy of
and coffee-stained and marked-up copy to my preserved
collectibles.
Hello Dick me old sunshine!
Thank you. Living right up here in the far north like I do I
don't get all the messages, so was unaware of Jim's
response. Thanks to Jim - whatever it was he wrote. I am
very proud of my "BL walkthrough" - I think it's the most
valuable post I've ever contributed. I think it is a poor
effort, but the idea is good. I am hoping someone may be
inspired to make an even better one, which shouldn't be too
hard. Or maybe a "TFG walkthrough" - that would be good. Can
someone do that? Anyone fancy doing a The Favourite Game
synopsis? I can't do everything around here ;-)
What would be really nice would be to divide one of his
novels up into small segments post one a week over a year or
so. Then we could all read them and make comments. Trouble
is it might affect future sales when the books are
republished, because people wouldn't need to buy them - they
could just join up all the bits one after the other. Shall
we ask Leo what he thinks? No, maybe not - it might put him
in an awkward position. He is such a kind man already and
would say "Yes!" even though it could cost him money.
Therefore we can't really do that - it's not right to
exploit kindness. And the publishers also have a say in it -
all that copyright stuff you know. But it would be good to
go through his novels and get other people's reactions to
all the brilliant literature he has produced. It is such a
shame that we can't do that. Of course we could just read it
privately without posting the actual text and then make
comments but all those who don't have the books would lose
out and that isn't good. Well, I have a number of questions
and comments concerning BL so maybe I will post one or two
of them and see if anyone answers me. I have to rely on this
remote Norwegian server picking them up, though.
Goodbye, Dick - and thanks again to you, Barbara and Jim.
Geoffrey Charles Wren
~greg
Hey I thought of that too - "A TFG Walktrough";
I mean just because I didn't actually say so doesn't mean I didn't.
Because I did. Honestly I did. And I remember clearly now how
the idea came to me through a crack in the window - not long after
you posted your BLs walkthrough as a matter of fact: - It came to me
from where ever these ideas come to me from that i've learnt
the importance of not investigating too closely, - inspiration being
such a marble on the nose goodness knows.
Only my idea was a little different you see: I thought of you as
making the fine doer of it.
~
There really don't seem to be any CliffNotes on either one:
( http://www.cliffsnotes.com/ )
and that's bad because kids in school may be painfully
guessing at all kinds of wild off the wall reasons why LC
chose the name 'Shell'. And isn't it so that everyone knows
that when one knows the way to reduce the suffering of
another then one must.
So you will.
~greg
"Snow" <ak...@0nline.no> wrote in message news:ly3l7.9032$1T5.1...@news1.oke.nextra.no...
Bobbie Chalou
> "Snow" <ak...@0nline.no> wrote in message
> news:gouk7.7627$1T5....@news1.oke.nextra.no...
> > BEAUTIFUL LOSERS - a walkthrough.
To Geoffrey Charles Wren ~
This is a wonderful thing you have done for us, Snow... thank you so much. I
has helped me in my own understanding of Beautiful Losers, which I've read
twice but don't pretend to understand. I have printed two copies, one for
myself and one for a friend/client who I have converted into a new true-blue
Cohenist over the past year, and who has expressed interest in borrowing my
copy. I don't know for sure if it's good timing for her to read it so soon
after converting to Cohenism... :-) but she wants to try, and I think your
walk-through will help her get through it.
I have also been meaning to let you know how touching it was to read your
post about your own dog-eared copy and your bedraggled teddy bear... very
nice, made me smile - thank you for sharing something with us that means so
much to you.
Bobbie
Snow
>Hey I thought of that too - "A TFG Walkthrough"; I mean
just because I didn't actually say so doesn't mean I didn't.
Because I did. Honestly I did. And I remember clearly now
how the idea came to me through a crack in the window - not
long after you posted your BLs walkthrough as a matter of
fact: - It came to me from where ever these ideas come to me
too closely, - inspiration being such a marble on the nose
goodness knows. Only my idea was a little different you see:
Well, I could do it but as you know English is not my strong
point. I have lived in a non-English speaking community for
so long - it just isn't my everyday language and I often
cannot think of the right words - the vocabulary simply has
deteriorated. It needs to be done by someone who is skilled
at assessing the segments of literature - and someone who is
eloquent enough to summarise each as accurately as possible.
My spelling is so bad, my mental capacity inadequate. It
also needs a portion of imagination and there too I have
little to offer. So, taking all this into consideration I
would highly suggest that someone more qualified undertook
the task of making a TFG walkthrough.
>There really don't seem to be any CliffNotes on either one:
( http://www.cliffsnotes.com/ ) and that's bad because kids
in school may be painfully guessing at all kinds of wild off
the wall reasons why LC chose the name 'Shell'. And isn't it
so that everyone knows that when one knows the way to reduce
the suffering of another then one must. So you will.
You refer to an earlier post in which I told that Leonard
Cohen used the name of Shell as a homage to Shelley. Yes,
this is true - he did do this. The line in TFG saying: "Her
middle name was Marshell, after her mother's people, but
they called her Shell" is mere fiction. Leonard Cohen has
studied many poets, Shelley being one of his favourites. In
BL he writes:
"It was a lonely ride the Queen and Prince Phillip took
through the armored streets of Québec that October day in
1964 . . . The feet of Ozymandias had more company in the
sandstorm of '89."
A cultured man like yourself would know that no one could
have written that unless they were familiar with Shelley's
"Ozymandias, king of kings."
"I met a traveller from an antique land who said: 'Two vast
and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert . . .' "
OK, that's it again from me for this time. I could write a
lot more but I will keep it short. People don't like me
having a fixation with BL and Shelley I am sure. Things
change, Greg, and it's right that they do. I have been here
too long. I can visage a day in the not too distant future
when I am hobbling with my walking stick along the stormy
cobbled streets of this desolate northern fishing town and
someone taps me on the shoulder and says: "Hey, aren't you
the guy 'Snow' who used to write in the Leonard Cohen
newsgroup on the internet?" And I will just nod and say,
"Yes, that was me, but those days are past now." Then I will
continue around a windy corner and when they follow they
will see only footsteps disappearing in the thin layer of
snow blowing across the cobble-stones. I will be gone.
Nothing is forever, Greg. And now the end is near, and so I
face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear, I'll
state my case of which I'm certain. But you liked me, Greg,
didn't you. I believe you did - I really believe that. I
liked you as well, very much so. I liked everyone but I
didn't always show it. Thank you for everything.
Geoffrey.
Mg
I have read the novel two times in Slovenian and I plan to read the original
English version sometimes...
It's very complex. Catherine and Edith sometimes seem like one person. But
also F. and the narrator can be confused... at least in the last chapter...
Matjaz
Snow <ak...@0nline.no> wrote in message
news:gouk7.7627$1T5....@news1.oke.nextra.no...
Snow
>Thanks! I have read the novel two times in Slovenian and I
plan to read the original English version sometimes... It's
very complex. Catherine and Edith sometimes seem like one
person. But also F. and the narrator can be confused... at
least in the last chapter...
I have read it many times in English and once in Norwegian.
Yes, the final part is meant to confuse, I think. It was an
ingenious ending. A story like Beautiful Losers would have
suffered with a traditional closure. Therefore I totally
disagree with critic T. L. Rigelhof who, in 1998, wrote:
"The book doesn't end on that unplanned day, it just
evaporates into a fog of Busby Berkeley transcendentalism
unworthy of both horses and rider. Because the book fails to
find its own true ending even by "renting" the last page to
the Jesuits, I don't think it's as "incomparably beautiful"
as Cohen asserts. To be this, order has to be restored or
chaos must triumph. Since we're left neither the gold of
Jerusalem nor the babble of Babel but only some bits of
Assyrian astrology propped up on a Hollywood stage,
Beautiful Losers isn't Cohen's masterpiece as a novelist."
This out-of-touch critic has a right to his opinion, of
course - but unfortunately loses all credibility in doing
so. It's as if he is trying to tell us that the world is
flat.
If there is one part of Beautiful Losers that I do not
understand it is where the telephone dance in the basement
lobby of the System Theatre is described. It had been said
earlier: "There is no telephone booth in the System. There's
only one or two telephones on the wall separated by glass
partitions." The narrator was in the toilet and Edith and F.
were standing by the two pay phones sucking chocolate from
each other's fingers. The lights were buzzing and
flickering, and suddenly one of the phones rang; it just
rang one single time. Then it turns out that a man wearing a
string necktie who is watching them in a mirror was the one
who made the pay phone ring, and Edith and F. found
themselves standing between him and his phone. The necktie
man was stepping off and on a fortune-telling scale dialing
questions. The man then stepped towards the phone expecting
it to ring a second time, which it didn't. I quite simply do
not understand any of this - so if anyone can walk me
through it I'd be grateful. Wouldn't it have been better if
the narrator had been the one to disturb Edith and F.? Was
there a third phone? What does "dialing questions" mean? Was
the fortune-telling scale right next to the second phone? I
can't seem to get a clear picture of the details and need
assistance.
Geoffrey
Snow
I have this Freud dream stuff - two volumes - but not in
English. I got loads of dream books, but the one I use
mostly is "10,000 Dreams Interpreted" (1975) by Gustavus
Hindman Miller.
When you were 13 or 15 you wanted to be 25, and now you're
over 40 you want to be 15? This means that you must have
been most content when you were 20. You admit that when you
were 15 you were wrong to want to be 25, otherwise you would
want to be 25 now and not 15. So why do want to be 15 when
at that age you were wrong to want to be 25? At 15 you
hadn't even reached the age of consent. Do you want to be a
virgin again? Is that what all this is about? Sex? You were
reading Freud at 13? Everything goes back to sex with that
guy, the horny old bastard was obsessed with genitalia, and
you were reading it that? When you say you wish you were 15
do you mean the day before your 16th birthday then? You
regret ever losing your hymen or you just want to relive all
that sex you've had again? You said I should "go figure" but
it's hard.
g
dar
I should have known you would take me literally on the "go figure"
stuff when I was only doing a "I was so much older then, I'm younger
than that now", shtick. Because I had to grow up very quickly - I
lived in the Lincoln Park Hotel on Clarke/LaSalle in Chicago at 15.
This was a skid row type dump (where I had a room for $22.50 a week
until I lied and got a job at the revolving restaurant on top of
Holiday Inn serving drinks (said I was 21) and then upgraded to a
$28.50 a week room with it's own bathroom! And, honey bunch, I've
always acknowledged my "penis envy" from my Freud days and deal with
that on a daily basis vis a vis my insatiable sexuality. Don't have
to relive my youth or capture any lost innocence. Just hope I have
enough years left to thoroughly develop my decadence.
D
Tom Layesman
sexuality." :)
Dick
news:6430-3B9...@storefull-122.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
> I, for one, would be interested in hearing more about Dar's "insatiable
> sexuality." :)
>
I promised her I wouldn't tell Tom
maybe later
:-)
BigDick