U. alum Egan reads novel, offers advice

Surrounded by display cases filled with old books on the 6th floor of the Van Pelt Library, Jennifer Egan, who graduated from the University in 1985, read from her first novel The Invisible Circus. The reading was organized by The Writing Program and the Philomathean Society. Writing Program Director Gregory Djanikian, an English professor, described Egan's first novel to the audience before she read an abridged version of the third chapter, followed by a short story entitled "Sisters of the Moon." The Invisible Circus "is a many-layered book, part suspenseful mystery, part travel log, part political novel, and part an account of the coming of age of the young character Phoebe O'Connor," Djanikian said. "It is a fascinating exploration of what compels us to destroy ourselves, and what it is that saves us." Egan described the main character in her novel as "a girl who is obsessed with the death of her older sister, and sets off on a journey to retrace her sister's last steps before her mysterious suicide." Egan's readings met with resounding applause. Afterwards, she spoke with the audience, answered questions and autographed her book. In the audience was her former fiction teacher, English professor Diana Cavallo, who said Egan was "definitely an exceptional student" who was very involved in writing programs while at the University. Egan advised aspiring writers to "write and be patient -- these are the two most important things, and the two hardest things." According to Egan, a writer must "be willing to write badly, because you can always throw it away." She added that she had been writing constantly since she got to the University and only recently had her first novel published. But she said she is "very glad that [she] stuck with it." "I adored Penn, and I decided to become a writer when I was here," she said. "I edited the Penn Review, and I wrote a short story collection for my honors thesis."