Charles Webb

'They speak to me, Vicks.' Celandine hugs Vicky in windswept Kensington Gore. 'They speak to me from heaven.' London 1921. 24-year-old Celandine Greenstreet wants to write symphonies, but she hides an astonishing secret. What is the dreadful rift that forms between her and Alex? Why is Celandine cast aside by Estreham Academy? Who comes back into her life after ten years separation? What is the shocking nature of the lies she is told by the only man she ever loved? These are just some of the burning questions that must be answered in this skilfull and carefully crafted, yet harrowing story of Celandine's life in the years following the Great War. A prodigiously talented musician, she faces a continual fight to prove her sanity, achieve her ambitions and demonstrate her innocence of the appalling crime she stands accused of. In 'A Solitary Girl' the narrative probes deeply into troubled minds, shows us the limits and dangers of early twentieth century psychiatry, weaves a complex web of grief, ambition, love and hate, leavened throughout with a dash of humour.

In the blistering summer of 1911, City stockbroker George Chesshyre moves his family to a new house in south London. George looks forward to a life of domestic bliss but a continuous chain of events conspires against him and his yearned for reverie is repeatedly thwarted and dashed by the arrival of cantankerous and odd relatives, unexpected animals and a merciless drain on his wallet. Not helped by the unceasing, debilitating heat of one of the hottest summers on record, George battles to and from the City each day on the ‘Slow Train to Suburbia’. As the year progresses and the autumn leaves fall, a procession of colourful characters adds, by turn, hilarity and heartbreak, culminating in a riotous Christmas Day, a fitting climax to an event-filled year. In ‘Slow Train to Suburbia’ the author paints a sympathetic and nostalgic picture of life in the suburbs before the First World War. The world is rapidly changing and old certainties are fading fast. The dying embers of the Edwardian age are captured beautifully in the situations, characters and prose, and will leave a deep and lasting impression in the memories and imaginations of everyone who reads and enjoys this unusual novel.

As The Tao of Aging opens, we encounter a strange old, sage-like Chinese philosopher and raconteur who claims to actually be Zhuangzi (ChuangTzu) - the second most important originator of Taoist thought after Lao Tzu. Zhuangzi now lives in San Francisco and is known simply as "Z". As it turns out, over 2000 years after his exploits in ancient China, "Z" is still rambling about the world - trickster to the bone - tinkering with the way we look at what we call reality. He insists that he is not some mythical Taoist Immortal whose condition is due to an alchemical elixir but rather an ordinary man who pays attention to the Laws of Nature. "I am not the Zhuangzi you have read about in books...wallowing in the mud all day. Stuck in the mud really, if you believe what you read, which you shouldn't. There are those who will say that the ideas I am telling you about now are not those of Zhuangzi - that they are different from Zhuangzi's teachings - contrary even. But if they were not freethinking - even heretical - they would not truly be Zhuangzi's - MY - ideas... ... And so you ask about some Tao of Aging? First, there is no Tao OF anything...just Tao. And Tao is not a noun, Tao is a verb. But even Taoing is not Tao because Tao has no name, even though I have just named it. Then, look for yourself. What you call your body may change in a way you call aging, but do 'you' age? Does your awareness get wet when it rains? Does your awareness turn into wearoutness over 'time'? I think not Just think of yourself as a constantly changing field of energy and potential...swirling and twirling with the Tao..." Is "Z" the real thing? Our conclusion by the end of our encounter with him... MAYBE...

Adapted for the stage by Terry Johnson Based on the novel by Charles Webb and the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry Comedy Characters: 6 male, 5 female Unit set. A hit in the West End and a popular show on Broadway starring Kathleen Turner, The Graduate brings the inspired movie hit of the Sixties vividly to life on stage. Benjamin Braddock, recent college graduate and prodigal son, returns home and promptly becomes embroiled in an affair with the wife of his father's business partner, one Mrs. Robinson, but soon finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine. "After a long and successful run in the West End, The Graduate is now on Broadway and IT'S A HIT!"- Variety "This bittersweet comedy is rich, full and funny. Enjoy!"- NY1 "Fun to watch... Definitely gives off starlight." -N. Y. Times "Good stuff... The audience goes wild."-FOX5 TV "Delightful."-USA Today "Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson!... Breaking all box office records!"-Newark Star Ledger

As far as Benjamin Braddock's parents are concerned, his future is sewn up. Now he has graduated from college, he will go to Yale or Harvard, get a good job and enjoy a life of money, cocktails and pool parties in the suburbs, just like them. For Benjamin, however, this isn't quite enough. When his parents' friend Mrs Robinson, a formidable older woman, strips naked in front of him and they begin an affair, it seems he might have found a way out. That is, until her daughter Elaine comes into the picture, and things get far more complicated.

At the end of Charles Webb's first novel, The Graduate, Benjamin Braddock rescues his beloved Elaine from a marriage made not in heaven but in California. It is now eleven years and 3,000 miles later, and the couple live in Westchester County, a suburb of New York City, with their two young sons, whom they are educating at home.

As a discerning reader of nineteenth-century American fiction, Englishman Colin Ware is familiar with the tradition of transcending disastrous love affairs by booking the next ocean liner to Europe. Now that he has experienced the pain and humiliation of heartache firsthand, he decides to try this cure in reverse. New Cardiff, Vermont, may be an infinitesimal blot on the rural American landscape, but to Colin it's the ideal place to mend his broken heart. The townsfolk are a quirky, endearing lot, and they welcome the migrating artist into their fold. Colin does his part by capturing his adopted countrymen and women in charcoal and ink. He even discovers love again -- with Mandy, an attendant at the Shining Shores nursing home. When Colin's ex arrives to woo him back to her and his native land, he has to choose between his new love and the woman he's known for years. With its pitch-perfect dialogue, New Cardiff takes readers on the exhilarating cross-cultural odyssey of a man hurtling headlong into life.

Benjamin, frisch aus der High School kommend, beginnt eine Aff?re mit Mrs. Robinson, verliebt sich dann aber in deren Tochter Elaine. (DVD zu diesem Lekt?reklassiker bei Lingua-Video erh?ltlich.)

In this collection, the poet glorifies the spirit, but also the flesh, as exemplified by the poem ""Liver"", ""organ whose name contains the injunction Live!... great One-Who-Lives, so we can too"".

'For twenty- one years I have been shuffling back and forth between classrooms and libraries. Now you tell me what the hell it's got me.' That's how Benjamin Braddock talked when he came down from university. Somehow it didn't seem to be what his father expected from a college education, and everyone was really appalled when Ben raped Mrs Robinson (that was her story anyway) and ran off with her daughter in the middle of her wedding to someone else... a brilliantly sordid tale of a young man's search for identity and a portrayal of the worst-behaved yet most sympathetic anti-hero of the day.