  A description of neutral and multiply charged fullerenes is proposed based on
a stabilized jellium (structureless pseudopotential) approximation for the
ionic background and the local density approximation for the sigma and pi
valence electrons. A recently developed shell-correction method is used to
calculate total energies and properties of both the neutral and multiply
charged anionic and cationic fullerenes. The effect of the icosahedral symmetry
is included perturbatively. The calculated single-particle energy level
spectrum of C_60 is in good correspondence with experimentally measured ones
and previous self-consistent local-density-approximation calculations. For the
multiply charged fullerenes, we calculate microscopically the charging energies
for up to 12 excess charges. A semiclassical interpretation of these results is
developed, which views the fullerenes as Coulomb islands possessing a classical
capacitance. The calculated values for the first ionization potential and the
first electron affinity agree well with the experimental ones. Our calculations
support the results from charge transfer bracketing experiments and from direct
ionization experiments through electron impact. The doubly charged negative ion
is found to be a very long-lived metastable species, in agreement with
observations.
