Published in 2003 by Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis is remarkable in the way it speaks of financial collapse. Eric Packer, a young multi-billionaire investor, makes his way across New York in an ultra-stretch custom limousine to get a haircut. The entire book takes place during this trip across town. The limo is bulletproof and lined with cork to insulate Packer from the outside world. Since the president is in town, travel is slow, often jammed completely. He happens to meet his wife stopped alongside him in the traffic, and she says, “Your eyes are blue.” Similarly, he has never seen his driver’s face before that day.
Sex, murder, and grisly suicide cannot touch the protagonist. He loses his entire fortune in a bet against the yen, and then proceeds to lose his wife’s fortune also. The entire world goes into financial collapse. Instead of being upset, he is unburdened. The book, in my opinion, speaks of alienation. We who live in the 21st century are estranged from each other and ultimately separated from God.
Through this incongruous sequence, Packer is obsessed to find a particular bodily part is asymmetrical. But when he finds another with a similar condition, he has made a connection. Western society has isolated us, but our pain can bring us back together. I couldn’t help but form a corollary with Romans 8:17, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Unless you can stomach a good degree of obscenity, I don’t recommend the book. The movie to come out in May (see Cosmopolis), is directed by David Cronenberg, and stars Robert Pattison of “Twilight“. The music will feature a track written by Emily Haines and Metric. This is a great choice since Haines’ music often wield substantive lyrics that hit hard just beneath the surface (see Doctor Blind for a good example). I may not see the movie, but I’ll be looking for the soundtrack. I’m anxious to see if Metric has come to the same conclusion as me, that if you can get beyond the extreme vulgarity, this is a spiritual story that hits a deep contemporary problem.
