''What'd I Say?": Beautiful Losers' Allegory of Translation

Abstract

<p>This study examines Leonard Cohen's novel <em>Beautiful Losers</em> through the lenses of allegorical and authorial theories to appreciate how the novel uses allegorical techniques to code into symbolic terms an exploration of the polysemous nature of the word ''translation.'' The first chapter studies the stylistic and conceptual dimensions of allegory as a literary genre - as critics like Northrop Frye, Angus Fletchet, and Maureen Quilligan help to define it - while arguing that Cohen's novel is consciously allegorical, challenging readers to interpret what it "means," or may mean. The second chapter performs an intensive re-reading of <em>Beautiful Losers</em>, examining how the novel uses complex systems of verbal play (particularly puns) to coordinate a reunification of various dichotomies historical "reality"/imaginative myth, secularity/spirituality, enslavement/sanctification, among others - employed throughout the text. The thesis concludes that the novel is perpetually playing with various types of translation (spiritual, linguistic, physical, and so forth), affirming the need for emotionally-charged, devotional forms of expression (like song and prayer) over more clinical attempts to reorder or recreate the world and its inhabitants. Ultimately, this discussion argues that an understanding of the allegorical dimensions of <em>Beautiful Losers</em> may illuminate how Cohen's other works (particularly his songs) may be studied as attempts to associate word with voice, to emphasize the process of expression (translation) rather than just the finished product.</p>