Reading Order
Cosmopolis Reading Order
Cosmopolis (2003) by Don DeLillo is a short, hallucinatory novel set during a single day in April 2000, following Eric Packer — a twenty-eight-year-old billionaire asset manager — as he crosses Manhattan in his stretch limousine to get a haircut, while his fortune collapses in the currency markets and someone plots to kill him. The city is in gridlock for a presidential motorcade; anti-capitalist protests erupt around him; a rapper's funeral procession passes; protesters throw rats at Wall Street traders. DeLillo strips the day to its elements — capital, body, violence, death — and shows the world of financial abstraction meeting the world of physical reality. It was adapted by David Cronenberg into a film in 2012.
Where to start
Cosmopolis (2003)
Complete Cosmopolis Book List
Cosmopolis — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cosmopolis a difficult novel?
Cosmopolis is short (about 200 pages) but stylistically demanding — DeLillo writes in an extremely controlled, almost minimalist prose that deliberately drains affect from the narration. Eric Packer's interior voice is alien and cold. Some readers find this thrilling; others find it inaccessible. It rewards rereading.
When is Cosmopolis set?
Cosmopolis is set in April 2000 — just after the peak of the dot-com bubble and before its collapse. Eric Packer's fortune is made in currency speculation, and the day of the novel is the day his massive short position against the yen begins to unravel.
Is the David Cronenberg film a good adaptation of Cosmopolis?
Cronenberg's 2012 adaptation is very faithful to the novel — much of the novel's dialogue is reproduced verbatim — and starred Robert Pattinson as Eric Packer. It received a mixed reception from critics, who admired its faithfulness but found it as cold and alienating as the novel itself.
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