Being an adaptation by and with the great Martin Jarvis, I thought it would be absolutely excellent, as I have found his audio efforts to be always. But in his performance there is something lacking, Sir Robert Chiltern should be played with a bit more pathos. Jacqueline Bisset is formidable, and Alfred Molina also as Lord Goring.

As to being a live recording, this is a mixed blessing. This public seems to misunderstand some lines, and there are misplaced laughs, for example when Robert Chiltern says: "I did not sell myself for money. I bought success at a great price. That is all". I'm sure Wilde didn't intend this to be a joke. Chiltern is not bought, he is not changed, it is he who buys something, therefore his character, his person, is not altered. The public dismisses this important nuance and bursts into a hearty fit of laughter.

There are three o four more like that. But on the whole, this recording by L.A. Theater Works is highly enjoyable.

Wilde, in part, attempts to portray the relativity of truth, power, and character, things we often take as absolutes, while also entertaining his audience with witty dialogue and comical mishaps.

Oscar Wilde gives us here one of his best plays. He explores the political world in London and how a young ambitious but poor man can commit a crime, which is a mistake, to start his good fortune. But he builds his political career on ethical principles. Sooner or later someone will come into the picture to blackmail him into supporting an unacceptable scheme, by producing a document that could ruin his career if revealed. His past mistake may come back heavily onto him. But he resists and sticks to his moral reputation. He prefers doing what is right to yielding to some menace. He may lose though his political ambition and career and his wife's love. But love is saved by forgiveness and the man's career is also saved by the work of a real friend who recaptures the dubious document and destroys it. In other words love and an ethical career are saved by the burrying of the old mistake into oblivion. In other words love and friendship are stronger than the scheming action of a blackmailer. This is a terrible criticism of victorian society which is based more on appearances than principles and yet able to destroy a man's absolutely ethical present life with a mistake from his youth, throwing the baby along with the water of the bath. It is also a criticism of the victorian political world where you cannot have a career if you are not rich, money appearing as the only way to succeed, at least to succeed fast. But it is a hopeful play because love and friendship are beyond such considerations and only consider the best interest of men and women, in the long run and in the name of absolute purity. Better be a sinner and be forgiven when you have reformed than see a reformed sinner destroyed by the lack of forgiveness. Oscar Wilde advocates here a vision of humanity that necessitates forgiveness as the essential fuel of any rational approach. Real morality is not the everlasting guilt of a sinner without any possible reform. Real morality is the recognition that forgiveness is necessary when reform has taken place. Otherwise society would be unlivable and based on hypocrisy and the death or rejection of the best people in the name of (reformed) mistakes. One must not be that sectarian, because man can learn from his mistakes and improve along the road : one can learn how to avoid mistakes and repair those oen has committed. If condemnation is absolute, no progress is possible. A very fascinating play, a very modern play. And yet when can one be considered as reformed, when can we consider one has really corrected one's mistakes and improved ? And who can deem such elements ? The very core of political and ethical rectitude is concerned here and Oscar Wilde embraces a generous approach.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

The manual goes into too much detail about repairs that a typical consumer would never attempt at home and provides almost no detail about routine maintenance. I bought this manual and kept in my garage for reference and tried to use it yesterday to guide me through flushing my cooling system. I could not locate the radiator drain plug. There is no index item for "radiator" if you can believe that. But, I did find "cooling system." Now, this is verbatim from the manual: "2. Place a fluid catch pan under the radiator, open the radiator drain valve and drain the coolant from the system." There is no diagram or narrative overview explaining the cooling system components. There is nothing showing the location of the drain plug! This is typical of this manual. Want another example? Here is everything on removing the thermostat: "3. If using a flushing solution, remove the thermostat. Reinstall the thermostat housing." Again, no location and no diagram. Yet, if I wanted to fix a "crankshaft damper," the manual has a 14 step procedure and a nice diagram.

I have a 1995 Cadillac Deville which keeps stalling on me. I discovered it had no spark, so it wasn't a fuel problem. I have brought it to 5 garages and no one can figure it out. Every time I get it to the garage, it will run fine. I am a college student who inheritted a nice vehicle. I can't find a book anywhere that will show me anything electrical in it

I have used many Chilton repair manuals in the past. I need one now for my 1994 Cadillac concour. I have an oil leak around the oil pan. I need to have a manual that show's how to remove the oil pan.