비판과 매혹 사이: 『코스모폴리스』가 그리는 한 금융자본가의 초상

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to critically examine a very peculiar capitalist character, the protagonist of Cosmopolis by Don Delillo. In a day the novel records minutely, Eric Packer, a private financier of a very high profile, refuses to withdraw a fatally mistaken investment in the currency trading market, thus intentionally causing his complete bankruptcy. Furthermore, he willfully visits his former employee, a lone outsider who wants to assassinate him. His self-destructive impulse is manifest; however, the plausible psychological explanations for it is far from clear. On the contrary, this problematic character is apparently being elevated to tragic height. His grandiosely philosophical thoughts on investment seem to carry considerable weight, being pregnant with prophetic implications for the common fate of mankind now inextricably tied with capitalism. Also, the trajectory of his willful death is geared to create the analogy with Jesus by employing plot motifs of (pseudo-) tragic nature comparable to the Last Supper and the Stigmata. However, the novel's so focused description of the protagonist is rich enough to reveal his other aspects, which support a more critical interpretation of his death. Packer is suffering from a severe case of insomnia and, more seriously, loss of purposefulness. These are symptomatic of a fatal state his whole being is trapped in. As one of the characters comments, “his “whole waking life is self-contradiction.” He is thoroughly committed to the future of capitalism. As he himself proudly claims throughout the novel, he is pioneering the future of capitalism at the forefront of capital market. Now, capitalism begins to colonialize time after many other areas of non-commodity and, therefore, life in general is once again about to be drastically distorted and impoverished. Of course, Packer is under the full influence of this new brand of capitalism and his unconscious is revolting against it. But he cannot corrects nor even be clearly aware of his disintegrating state because he has been so deeply infiltrated with the influence. He can be said to be in a warring state with himself. His death is the logical conclusion of this insoluble contradiction.