Cosmopolis

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For other uses, see Cosmopolis (disambiguation).

**Title** **Cosmopolis**
Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo.
Author	Don DeLillo
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Scribner
Released	14 April, 2003
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	224 (hardcover first edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-7432-4424-9 (hardcover first edition)

Cosmopolis is Don DeLillo's thirteenth novel. It was published by Scribner on 14 April 2003.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Cosmopolis is the story of Eric Packer, a 28 year old multi-billionaire asset manager who makes an odyssey (or anti-odyssey) across midtown Manhattan in order to get a hair-cut. Like Delillo's other novels, repetition of thoughts and a disjointed timeline give the novel a distinct Delillo feel. Like James Joyce's Ulysses, Cosmopolis covers roughly one day of time and includes the typical subtleness of Ulysses at times (c.f., Joyce's "man in the macintosh" with Delillo's "man at the ATM"), a funeral which the hero takes part in (c.f. Patty Dingham's in Ulysses to the fallen Sufi rap star's in Cosmoplis), and highly sexed women (c.f. Leopold Bloom's wife Molly and mistress to Packer's wife of 22 days {albeit slightly asexual at first}, his mistress, and his bodyguard), and the theme of the son separated from the father (Packer's father died of cancer suddenly during the son's childhood). Unlike Joyce's novel, Delillo's "day" is rather eventful including a presidential visit to the city which causes magnificent traffic jams that impede the hero's progression across midtown, a riot, a funeral procession, several "chance" meetings of his wife (seeing her in a taxi, bookstore, and laying naked in the street taking part of a movie as an extra), attacks by the "pastry assassin" and the "credible threat", two murders, and two hair-cuts (one symbolic, the other literal).

Through the course of the day Packer loses incredible amounts of money for his clients by betting against the rise of the yen--a loss that parallels the tragic fall of the hero. Packer seems almost to relish being unburdened by the loss of so much money, even stopping to make sure he loses his wealthy wife's fortune to ensure that his ruin is inevitable. The stretch limo which adorns the cover of the book is richly described as highly technical and very luxurious: filled with television screens and computer monitors, floored in Carrara marble, bullet-proofed against outside gunfire, and cork lined to protect against street noise (unsuccessfully, Packer notes).