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Abstract
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Interdisciplinary studies have become a new subject of interest in todays’ academic studies. This research attempts to provide a sociological reading of Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis (2003) which contains a description of a cosmopolitan city in which Eric Packer struggles with changes related to the new era in the society. British Sociologist Anthony Giddens, known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies, tags this new era with the term “Globalization”, an idea that can be used to explain the ways in which Eric Packer interacts with his society in his nontraditional way. This thesis aims to view Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis by drawing upon Anthony Giddens’ theory of globalization. In this regard, the researcher uses three concepts from Giddens’ globalization theory to read this text: Intimate Relationships as introduced in his The Transformation of Intimacy (1992), and Self-Identity and Lifestyle as developed in Modernity and Self-Identity (1991). Previous studies, conducted by Ian Davidson in his “Automobility, materiality and Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis”, Mark Osteen in his “The Currency of DeLillo's Cosmopolis” and Victor Li in his “The Untimely in Globalization’s Time: Don Dellilo’s Cosmopolis”, stressed on the anti-globalist reading of Delillo’s novel. However, the researcher of this thesis argues that Cosmopolis is a Globalization themed novel. Eric Packer’s journey toward self-destruction, according to the above-mentioned critics, is the disastrous outcome of Globalization. However, what they cease to consider is that Packer takes control of his identity through his journey, ending up with a relationship in which there is no love, and changing his lifestyle controlled by his money instead of himself. I want to argue that Globalization has repercussion on people in different aspects like lifestyle, intimacy and identity.
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