Weekly Interview: Richard Cohen (Printed June 15, 2007)
By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
In his third novel, Petal on a Black Bough, Cape Elizabeth resident Richard Cohen brings the mythological warrior-goddess Medb back to life and inserts her into the World War I to World War II era to aid in the struggle for Ireland’s independence.
“People that know me have said, ‘What happened? This isn’t you. You don’t write fantasy ’”said Cohen with a chuckle.
Cohen, who called himself an “old academic,” said the novel, which was published in April, marks his first attempt at adding an element of fantasy to his writings, which he said typically have a “historical bend.”
A former English professor and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Maine, Presque Isle, now retired, Cohen wrote a great deal of academic work including reviews, articles and a monograph of the eighteenth century writer Samuel Richardson. He was creator and editor of the journal, Husson Review, and a participant in a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Images of Aroostook. He also wrote chapters about medicine in Aroostook county and the future of the county for a book entitled: Aroostook: Land of Promise.
Cohen said, however, he never lost his interest in writing fiction. His previous novels, set during the early to mid-twentieth century, are Be Still My Soul and Monday: End of the Week. In 2005, Cohen also published a book of his brother, Alfred Cohen, and his own poetry entitled Only God Can Make a Tree. With such a diverse catalog of works, it seems natural that Cohen would take on a new challenge in his latest novel.
“I have always been interested in mythology,” Cohen said, “and Celtic mythology is one of my favorites. One of the reasons for that is we have drops of Irish blood on my mother’s side in the family.”
Medb or Maeve as it is written today, is known for sorcery, sexuality and an affinity for war. She can travel through space and time and shape shift from a young woman to an old woman or to a raven. In the novel, Medb uses all of her powers to recruit warriors to fight for Ireland’s independence.
When Medb, disguised as nurse Lady Madeline, visits a French hospital, she meets an American soldier named Philip. Philip is the hero she has been searching for and she decides to use him as a leader in the fight.
“Unfortunately, for her, she becomes too human and she falls in love with Philip and that leads to some tragedy,” said Cohen, careful not to reveal too many details.
In Celtic mythology and perhaps in history, Cohen said, Medb, who history remembers as a queen, had a daughter named Findbair. He said both mother and daughter died from broken hearts from having sent so many men off to war. In the novel, Medb’s heir, Maeve Dwyer lives in Massachusetts, having immigrated there to escape Ireland’s poverty. Medb begins to bestow her powers to her daughter and through this transformation Cohen said it is revealed that what the world needs is love and peace.
“A friend of mine wrote to me and said my read is a multi-layered comment on mystery and life, which for me was a very good comment,” he said. “I saw it described as a romance and I laughed when I saw that.”
If the novel is a romance, it is perhaps more a case of the characters evolving off the page rather than anything done intentionally by Cohen. He said authors are telling the truth when they talk about their characters taking on a life of their own.
“They actually do,” he said. “I had a character and she is, I would say, the central character in Be Still My Soul and I remember once I was thinking about killing her off and-this is the truth-I swear she said to me from the page, ‘You can’t kill me off, you’re going to need me.’ He added, “They do talk and they become real.”
Be Still My Soul is a novel about a different family dealing with the effects of World War II. Cohen said it is about both the battlefield and the home front, but he especially wanted to write about the experiences of the women who stayed at home. Cohen said the novel conveys the “waste of war.”
“I’m an idealist,” he said. “I want the world to live in harmony.”
Cohen said he has thought about writing about the Iraq War, but decided against it.
“We read about it, the world reads about it daily…and I can’t do it,” he said. “I don’t think I’d do it justice, at least not right now. Truthfully, I might be too angry and you don’t want diatribe in a novel.”
Cohen served in both the army’s transportation and medical corps during World War II. Cohen said he had three brothers overseas, but his commanding officer refused to let him join them. He said he wrote to his superior every month, asking to go overseas.
“I went into the headquarters (and) the captain was sitting there and he said, ‘Cohen, is that another one of those letters?” Cohen recalled, laughing. “He said, ‘I give you one of two choices: either I take it and tear it up in front of you and throw it in my wastebasket or you take it and you tear it up and throw it in yours.”
Instead of going overseas, Cohen was transferred from the transportation corps to the medical corps. Coming from a family of physicians, it was assumed that he would also be a doctor someday, but Cohen said he couldn’t do it.
Cohen said his father, Morris, was a “pioneer” in providing medical care for the poor and working class. His next project will be completing his father’s memoirs.
“He started what was known as the Boston Evening Clinic in 1927,” he said. “The Massachusetts Medical Society was against him and all of the major hospitals in Boston tried to stop him.”
Cohen said the clinic grew in size and fame and during the fifties or sixties, the Lord Mayor of Dublin made a visit to the clinic.
Depending on how the memoirs turn out, Cohen said he might publish them. Once he finishes his father’s memoirs, Cohen said his wife, Arla, has given him permission to start work on his next novel. He said the next book will likely be another historical fantasy and it will likely take place in seventeenth century Ireland.
Signed copies of Petal on a Black Bough are available at Nonesuch Books in South Portland. At 7 p.m. on July 17, Cohen will give a reading at Longfellow Books in Monument Square in Portland. He will also appear at Borders in South Portland sometime in either August or Sept.
For more information about Cohen and his work, visit www.blackboughbooks.com.
Staff Writer
In his third novel, Petal on a Black Bough, Cape Elizabeth resident Richard Cohen brings the mythological warrior-goddess Medb back to life and inserts her into the World War I to World War II era to aid in the struggle for Ireland’s independence.
“People that know me have said, ‘What happened? This isn’t you. You don’t write fantasy ’”said Cohen with a chuckle.
Cohen, who called himself an “old academic,” said the novel, which was published in April, marks his first attempt at adding an element of fantasy to his writings, which he said typically have a “historical bend.”
A former English professor and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Maine, Presque Isle, now retired, Cohen wrote a great deal of academic work including reviews, articles and a monograph of the eighteenth century writer Samuel Richardson. He was creator and editor of the journal, Husson Review, and a participant in a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Images of Aroostook. He also wrote chapters about medicine in Aroostook county and the future of the county for a book entitled: Aroostook: Land of Promise.
Cohen said, however, he never lost his interest in writing fiction. His previous novels, set during the early to mid-twentieth century, are Be Still My Soul and Monday: End of the Week. In 2005, Cohen also published a book of his brother, Alfred Cohen, and his own poetry entitled Only God Can Make a Tree. With such a diverse catalog of works, it seems natural that Cohen would take on a new challenge in his latest novel.
“I have always been interested in mythology,” Cohen said, “and Celtic mythology is one of my favorites. One of the reasons for that is we have drops of Irish blood on my mother’s side in the family.”
Medb or Maeve as it is written today, is known for sorcery, sexuality and an affinity for war. She can travel through space and time and shape shift from a young woman to an old woman or to a raven. In the novel, Medb uses all of her powers to recruit warriors to fight for Ireland’s independence.
When Medb, disguised as nurse Lady Madeline, visits a French hospital, she meets an American soldier named Philip. Philip is the hero she has been searching for and she decides to use him as a leader in the fight.
“Unfortunately, for her, she becomes too human and she falls in love with Philip and that leads to some tragedy,” said Cohen, careful not to reveal too many details.
In Celtic mythology and perhaps in history, Cohen said, Medb, who history remembers as a queen, had a daughter named Findbair. He said both mother and daughter died from broken hearts from having sent so many men off to war. In the novel, Medb’s heir, Maeve Dwyer lives in Massachusetts, having immigrated there to escape Ireland’s poverty. Medb begins to bestow her powers to her daughter and through this transformation Cohen said it is revealed that what the world needs is love and peace.
“A friend of mine wrote to me and said my read is a multi-layered comment on mystery and life, which for me was a very good comment,” he said. “I saw it described as a romance and I laughed when I saw that.”
If the novel is a romance, it is perhaps more a case of the characters evolving off the page rather than anything done intentionally by Cohen. He said authors are telling the truth when they talk about their characters taking on a life of their own.
“They actually do,” he said. “I had a character and she is, I would say, the central character in Be Still My Soul and I remember once I was thinking about killing her off and-this is the truth-I swear she said to me from the page, ‘You can’t kill me off, you’re going to need me.’ He added, “They do talk and they become real.”
Be Still My Soul is a novel about a different family dealing with the effects of World War II. Cohen said it is about both the battlefield and the home front, but he especially wanted to write about the experiences of the women who stayed at home. Cohen said the novel conveys the “waste of war.”
“I’m an idealist,” he said. “I want the world to live in harmony.”
Cohen said he has thought about writing about the Iraq War, but decided against it.
“We read about it, the world reads about it daily…and I can’t do it,” he said. “I don’t think I’d do it justice, at least not right now. Truthfully, I might be too angry and you don’t want diatribe in a novel.”
Cohen served in both the army’s transportation and medical corps during World War II. Cohen said he had three brothers overseas, but his commanding officer refused to let him join them. He said he wrote to his superior every month, asking to go overseas.
“I went into the headquarters (and) the captain was sitting there and he said, ‘Cohen, is that another one of those letters?” Cohen recalled, laughing. “He said, ‘I give you one of two choices: either I take it and tear it up in front of you and throw it in my wastebasket or you take it and you tear it up and throw it in yours.”
Instead of going overseas, Cohen was transferred from the transportation corps to the medical corps. Coming from a family of physicians, it was assumed that he would also be a doctor someday, but Cohen said he couldn’t do it.
Cohen said his father, Morris, was a “pioneer” in providing medical care for the poor and working class. His next project will be completing his father’s memoirs.
“He started what was known as the Boston Evening Clinic in 1927,” he said. “The Massachusetts Medical Society was against him and all of the major hospitals in Boston tried to stop him.”
Cohen said the clinic grew in size and fame and during the fifties or sixties, the Lord Mayor of Dublin made a visit to the clinic.
Depending on how the memoirs turn out, Cohen said he might publish them. Once he finishes his father’s memoirs, Cohen said his wife, Arla, has given him permission to start work on his next novel. He said the next book will likely be another historical fantasy and it will likely take place in seventeenth century Ireland.
Signed copies of Petal on a Black Bough are available at Nonesuch Books in South Portland. At 7 p.m. on July 17, Cohen will give a reading at Longfellow Books in Monument Square in Portland. He will also appear at Borders in South Portland sometime in either August or Sept.
For more information about Cohen and his work, visit www.blackboughbooks.com.
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