# Matters of Vital Interest: A Forty-Year Friendship with Leonard Cohen - Hardcover

by **Eric Lerner** (Author)

**A memoir of the author's decades-long friendship and spiritual journey with the late singer, songwriter, novelist, and poet Leonard Cohen**

Leonard Cohen passed away in late 2016, leaving behind many who cared for and admired him, but perhaps few knew him better than longtime friend Eric Lerner. Lerner, a screenwriter and novelist, first met Cohen at a Zen retreat forty years earlier. Their friendship helped guide each other through life's myriad obstacles, a journey told from a new perspective for the first time.

Funny, revealing, self-aware, and deeply moving, _Matters of Vital Interest_ is an insightful memoir about Lerner's relationship with his friend, whose idiosyncratic style and dignified life was deeply informed by his spiritual practices. Lerner invites readers to step into the room with them and listen in on a lifetime's ongoing dialogue, considerations of matters of vital interest, spiritual, mundane, and profane. In telling their story, Lerner depicts Leonard Cohen as a captivating persona, the likes of which we may never see again.

### Author Biography

Over a long career **Eric Lerner** has written a memoir of his early adventures in Buddhism; edited the off-the-wall journal _Zero_; was credited as writer and producer on the movies _Bird on a Wire, Augustus_, and _Kiss the Sky_; and has written several novels, including _Pinkerton's Secret: The Original Manuscript_.

**Number of Pages:** 304

**Dimensions:** 1 x 8.5 x 5.8 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** October 16, 2018

## Details

- **Price:** 37.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 37.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Matters of Vital Interest: A Forty-Year Friendship with Leonard Cohen - Hardcover

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