Also this issue: Strikes, Fights, Big City A turbulent New York theater season produced some notable work. -Toby Zinman Lullaby of Broadway This season’s musical theater scene has been a bit sleepy. -David Anthony Fox Alone Again, Naturally -Susan Hagen Artsbeat -Debra Auspitz Green Violin -Steve Cohen The Plotz Retrospective -A.D. Amorosi Bell Esteem -Kristina Weise Temple University Opera Theater -Peter Burwasser

April 24-30, 2003

artpicks

Don DeLillo

If there’s evidence of what literature will look like after postmodernism has finally choked on its own tail and breathed its last, you can find it in Don DeLillo’s vast oeuvre. His latest, Cosmopolis (Scribner), takes place in April 2000, at the end of an era of economic prosperity, and features a young billionaire stuck in traffic as he makes his way across Midtown Manhattan. So far, critics have absolutely dog-piled the novel, but that’s because they simply don’t know how to read it. The Don uses the conventions of realism -- traditional plot arc, recognizable settings and characters -- to tell tales that border on the fantastic or surreal, but that adhere close enough to our own physics to produce both effective cultural commentary and fine, fine entertainment. So read Cosmopolis as an extended dream sequence (after all, one important character is named Sheets) or as an extended footnote to Underworld (many common themes and motifs arise) or as an indication of where literature is headed, but do read it. And don’t you dare pass up this rare opportunity to hear The Don’s take on his own vital work.

--Andrew Ervin

Don DeLillo, Thu., April 24, 8 p.m., $12, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341.

—Andrew Ervin