Jonathan Safran Foer burst onto the literary scene with 2002's "Everything is Illuminated," for which he won the Book of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Times and the National Jewish Book Award. The acclaimed novelist, who graduated from Princeton University in 1999, will speak in Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall this evening and read an excerpt from his latest novel, titled "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."
In an interview with BookBrowse.com, Safran Foer described Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old protagonist of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," as "an inventor, jewelry designer, amateur entomologist, Francophile, percussionist, avid fan-letter writer, pacifist, Central Park archeologist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweler, actor (Yorick in the winter production of Hamlet), inconsistent vegan, collector of: rare coins, butterflies that have died natural deaths, Beatles memorabilia, miniature cacti and semi-precious stones." The novel follows Oskar, who learns on the morning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that his father is trapped at the World Trade Center site. Employing unorthodox techniques including photography and page design, the novel follows Oskar on his quest to learn the truth about his father's death.
"Everything is Illuminated" was turned into a 2005 feature film directed by Liev Schreiber and starring Elijah Wood.
Tonight's event, which will start at 6 p.m., is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
