Hydra and the Bananas of Leonard Cohen by Roger Green (USA 2003)

HYDRA AND THE BANANAS
OF LEONARD COHEN

Search for Serenity in the Sun

by Roger Green

Title	Hydra and the Bananas of Leonard Cohen
Author	Roger Green
Country & Year	USA 2003
Publisher	Basic Books, The Perseus Books Group, USA
Pages	217 pages
Notes	ISBN 0465027598
Summary	"Approaching the age of sixty, English poet Roger Green moves to the Greek island of Hydra because he has always felt himself more "south" than north. But he is not sure what he will find there-other than sun and the suspension of life's more mundane responsibilities that every ex-pat longs for. As he wiles away the days at his portable Olivetti, attempting to write a proper story, and the nights singing for his supper at the Pyrofani, the local watering hole, he is not quite prepared for a challenge of any kind. Let alone grapple with the discovery that his terrace has an unencumbered view of . . . singer, songwriter, and counterculture icon Leonard Cohen's banana trees. Or more exactly, that he'd soon be transfixed with the goings-on in the garden adjoining the house that still belongs to Cohen. What follows is Green's fantastically discursive ode to obsession and myth, relayed in a series of digressions that prove far more illuminating-and life-affirming-than the facts laid bare. Combining deprecating wit, unconventional style, and a decidedly playful mastery of the English language, Hydra and the Bananas of Leonard Cohen proves, once again, that (in the words of fellow poet Laurence Durrell), life is far too serious not to be taken lightly." Roger Green is an English poet living on the Greek island of Hydra.