| Cosmopolis | |
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| Author | Don DeLillo |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Scribner |
| Publication date | 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. Don DeLillo (born November 20 1936 is an American author best known for his Novels which paint detailed portraits of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. Don DeLillo (born November 20 1936 is an American author best known for his Novels which paint detailed portraits of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries It was published by Scribner on 14 April 2003. Events 43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar 's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books
Contents |
Plot summary
Cosmopolis is the story of Eric Packer, a 28 year old multi-billionaire asset manager who makes an odyssey across midtown Manhattan in order to get a haircut. The Odyssey ( Greek: Ὀδύσσεια or Odússeia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York 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, bullet-proofed and floored in Carrara marble. A limousine (or limo) is a longer than normal Luxury car. The chassis may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coach builder traditionally Carrara is a City in the Province of Massa-Carrara ( Tuscany, Italy) famous for the white or blue-gray Marble quarried there It is also cork lined to protect against street noise, though unsuccessfully, Packer notes.
Like James Joyce's Ulysses, Cosmopolis covers roughly one day of time and includes highly sexed women and the theme of father-son separation. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 &ndash 13 January 1941 was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920 Packer's voyage is obstructed by various traffic jams caused by a presidential visit to the city, a funeral procession for a Sufi rap star and a full-fledged riot. Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفیگری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Along the way, the hero has several chance meetings with his wife, seeing her in a taxi, a bookstore, and lying naked in the street, taking part in a movie as an extra. Meanwhile, Packer is stalked by two men, a comical "pastry assassin" and an unstable "credible threat. " Through the course of the day, the protagonist loses incredible amounts of money for his clients by betting against the rise of the yen, a loss that parallels his own fall. Packer seems to relish being unburdened by the loss of so much money, even stopping to make sure he loses his wife's fortune as well, to ensure his ruin is inevitable.
Reception
Reviews for Cosmopolis were generally mixed to negative, especially compared to many of DeLillo's previous novels. While Peter Wolfe of the StlToday. com called the book "eerily brilliant" and that it "confirms Don DeLillo's place among [the best writers] elite" [1], other reviewers weren't as enthusiastic. John Updike wrote in The New Yorker that while "DeLillo’s fervent intelligence and his fastidious, edgy prose. The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry . . weave halos of import around every event", that "The trouble with a tale where anything can happen is that somehow nothing happens. "[2]
Several reviewers praised DeLillo's style, including David Kipen of the San Francisco Chronicle who wrote "DeLillo continues to think about the modern world in language and images as quizzically beautiful as any writer now going"[3] who otherwise panned the novel. The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H Jessica Slater of the Rocky Mountain News also liked the prose but was overall dissatisfied, writing "His style, as always, is unique and insightful, but for all he packs into that one day in April, he fails to show us anything we haven't seen before. The Rocky Mountain News is a Monday-Saturday morning Tabloid -format Newspaper published in Denver Colorado, United States. "[4]
External links
References
- ^ Wolfe, Peter (3/23/2003). Cosmopolis. Stltoday. com.
- ^ Updike, John (3/31/2003). One-Way Street. The New Yorker.
- ^ Kipen, David (3/30/2003). DeLillo's high-style on cruise control. The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Slater, Jessica (4/4/2003). A Surreal Day with DeLillo. Rocky Mountain News.
Dictionary
cosmopolis
-noun
- An important city, such as a capital city, inhabited by people from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds.