The Web and the Rock

This novel is about one man’s discovery of life and the world,” begins Thomas Wolfe in his author’s note to The Web and the Rock. A literary theme so ambitious and all-encompassing almost defies attempt, but Wolfe’s story of George Webber is nothing less than astonishing. It follows Webber from his southern upbringing to his college days to his travels abroad to his arrival in New York City, where he aspires to become a successful writer. Then he meets Esther Jack, and things go as differently – but wonderfully so – as they possibly could. Beautiful and wealthy, a socialite, stage designer – and married woman – Esther reveals life and New York for him like nothing before.
George Webber’s youth and the rise and fall of his turbulent passion for Esther Jack are essential components in Wolfe’s complete vision for his protagonist, whose story continues in You Can’t Go Home Again. The wisdom Webber suffers – cumulatively, undeniably realized by the close of The Web and the Rock – becomes his fingerpost through subsequent experience.