Montreal, 6 October 1963

Typed letter signed (“Leonard”) to Marianne Ihlen ("Darling") with autograph postscript, Montreal [postmarked 6 October 1963].

One page, 280 x 215mm; with transmittal envelope.

Back in Montreal following the long-awaited publication of The Favorite Game. The novel had been rejected by Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart and was brought out instead by Secker and Warburg in the fall of 1963. Here Cohen discusses sales, reviews, and his “lousy contract.” He sums up his mother's response: “upstairs in bed, very sick, gasping, ‘Leonard, oh Leonard. Why did you write those things about your mother, all the terrible things, just because I wanted you to eat.'"

In terms of the critical reception, he notes that reviews “have not been particularly favourable but they have been very prominent. They’ve all screamed about the wild undisciplined dirty book, so it’s selling quite well... But what made me happy were the reactions of Irving and Dudek and the other writers around: they got what I meant, and they know the book will be around for a long time.” Irving Layton and Louis Dudek were Canadian literary heavyweights in their own right and longtime mentors of Cohen's, going back to his days as an undergraduate at McGill.

He closes: “Write me right away. All my love, my beautiful darling.”

By descent from Marianne Ihlen.