The Perception of Leonard Cohen in Slovenia as a Singer-Songwriter and a Literary Figure

Abstract

For the majority of his long career, Leonard Cohen may have been somewhat underappreciated in the United States of America, but he has achieved considerable renown and commercial success in other parts of the world, for instance in his native Canada and in many European countries. The present paper endeavours to establish the extent to which the latter is also true for Cohen’s status in Slovenia – a small country in Central Europe, which until 1991 formed part of socialist Yugoslavia. After an overview of the artist’s reception in North America and Europe, which provides a frame of reference, the perception of Cohen among Slovenians is comprehensively addressed by means of analysing more than one thousand articles in serial publications and online media about him in Slovenia over half a century, i.e. from 1970 to 2020. Cohen’s reputation as a man of letters is discussed first, followed by an analysis of the reception of his work as a recording artist as well as the responses to his live performances – especially to the two concerts he gave in Slovenia towards the end of his life. Lastly, some of the more notable reactions to Cohen’s death in Slovenian media are discussed.