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THE GRADUATE
by Webb, Charles
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Fine in near-fine jacket.
- Seller
-
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
(New York): New American Library, 1963. First edition. Fine in near-fine jacket.. First printing of the acclaimed novel, basis for the Academy Award-winning film. Classic early '60s novel of a rich, disaffected youth whose parents just don't understand. It is a great burden to be Benjamin Braddock, 21 and beset on all sides by expectations from the older generation: that he will get a job, go to graduate school, allow himself to be seduced, be polite at parties -- the expectations never end. "Ever since I've been out of school I've had this overwhelming urge to be rude all the time," he explains. Relatable, as they say in our own day.
By the time of the legendary Mike Nichols film adaptation in 1967, youthful discontent had evolved sufficiently for Benjamin's adamant refusal of materialist values to strike a resonant chord with the general public, despite the casting of an implausibly elderly Dustin Hoffman in the leading role and a certain disconnect from the deeper cynicism of the source material. Webb's novel lays out the case for Youthful Disillusionment as a universal defense, but unlike the film, it maintains a watchful distance from itself to the end, never quite taken in. 8'' x 5.5''. Original quarter blue cloth with grey pinstriped paper-covered boards. In original unclipped ($3.95) dust jacket, designed by Milton Glaser. Orange topstain and endpapers. 238 pages. Slight chipping to head of jacket spine.
By the time of the legendary Mike Nichols film adaptation in 1967, youthful discontent had evolved sufficiently for Benjamin's adamant refusal of materialist values to strike a resonant chord with the general public, despite the casting of an implausibly elderly Dustin Hoffman in the leading role and a certain disconnect from the deeper cynicism of the source material. Webb's novel lays out the case for Youthful Disillusionment as a universal defense, but unlike the film, it maintains a watchful distance from itself to the end, never quite taken in. 8'' x 5.5''. Original quarter blue cloth with grey pinstriped paper-covered boards. In original unclipped ($3.95) dust jacket, designed by Milton Glaser. Orange topstain and endpapers. 238 pages. Slight chipping to head of jacket spine.
Synopsis
Charles Webb's The Graduate, published in 1963, was a success for the young American writer, a sly and provocative first novel that is often forgotten in the shadow of Mike Nichols' sensational 1967 film and, more recently, an attention-grabbing stage adaptation in London with Kathleen Turner, then Jerry Hall as Mrs. Robinson. Among other things, Webb's novel is a book of its time, written when young Americans were beginning to question, for the first time, the materialistic values that the postwar culture had taught them. Its hero is worldly yet naive, but that won't last for long.The novel dramatizes the post-graduate blues of Benjamin Braddock, an appealing young man of great promise who would seem to have everything going for him. Returning to his parents' home after graduation to ponder his future in the real world, he is depressed. The only thing that rallies him is the attention of Mrs. Robinson, the bored but attractive wife of his father's law partner. Mrs. Robinson makes a play for Benjamin, and he responds. Their affair is far from passionate but it is intense. It continues until Benjamin rediscovers the Robinsons' beautiful daughter Elaine. He falls in love with her but Mrs. Robinson, in a jealous rage, destroys the relationship by telling her daughter of her affair with Benjamin. He is undeterred, following Elaine and forcing her to acknowledge him even as she prepares to marry someone else. For the first time, it seems, Benjamin knows what he wants, and he pursues her right to the altar.The Graduate, for all its crackling humor and addled romance, is also a scathing look at how vacuous and materialistic middle-class American life had become in the middle of the 20th century. What Benjamin does not want to be, it seems, is what is all around him -- his parents, their friends, their things, their values. He is a fascinating character, an attractive young man who seems to be unconnected to his own generation, a carefully tended boy who wants to become a man but does not know how. The wry insight of Webb's The Graduate makes Benjamin Braddock an archetype for a whole generation, a latter-day Holden Caulfield. The Chicago Tribune hailed Webb as "a highly gifted and accomplished writer," and Saturday Review wrote that The Graduate "moves with the speed and drive of a runaway locomotive."
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Details
- Bookseller
- Type Punch Matrix
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 39854
- Title
- THE GRADUATE
- Author
- Webb, Charles
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine in near-fine jacket.
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- Publisher
- New American Library
- Place of Publication
- (New York)
- Date Published
- 1963
- Keywords
- Books to Film,20th century,1960s
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Type Punch Matrix
Biblio member since 2020
Silver Spring, Maryland
About Type Punch Matrix
Type Punch Matrix is a rare book firm founded by Rebecca Romney and Brian Cassidy. TPM is a member firm of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and upholds their Code of Ethics.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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