Comment by Mark Danner. Comment about the publication of Oliver North's memoirs & the start of the Colonel's 19-city tour to promote it. The Iran-Contra affair completed a five-year journey from tragedy to farce and began its inevitable transformation into "product." It may well be in this incarnation that the character...

The Talk of the Town Role Model by Mindy Aloff. Talk story about Jane Goldberg who has been tap-dancing in front of paying audiences since the mid seventies. Lately she has started to practice comedy while she taps. She often performs in theatres or cabarets, but she also does a lot of work in what she calls non-traditional...

The Talk of the Town Former Student by Robert Boyle. Talk story about Manhattan physician Dr. Hans Kraus. More than a hundred rock climbers & mountaineers gathered at the Mohonk Mountain House in the Shawangunk Mountains near New Paltz for a dinner in honor of the Doctor who reached 86 on Thanksgiving Day. Dr. Kraus is a pioneer climber, a...

Fiction Yehoshua, A. B. by Hillel Halkin. In April, 1918, Lieutenant Ivor Stephen Horowitz prepares to prosecute a spy in Jerusalem shortly after the city is taken by the British from the Turks. He recounts the background of the case to Col. Michael Woodhouse, who is to serve as presiding judge. Joseph Mani, a Jerusalem-born Jew...

Fiction Conversation in Jerusalem by A. B. Yehoshua. In April, 1918, Lieutenant Ivor Stephen Horowitz prepares to prosecute a spy in Jerusalem shortly after the city is taken by the British from the Turks. He recounts the background of the case to Col. Michael Woodhouse, who is to serve as presiding judge. Joseph Mani, a Jerusalem-born Jew...

Letter from Salzburg by Timothy W. Ryback. A confection called the Mozartkugel has long been Salzburg's best-known commercial tribute to its local hero. Salzburg's Urkugel was conceived in 1890 by a local Konditor named Paul Furst, as a centenary tribute to Mozart. Today Paul Furst's great-grandson Norbert Furst, is the proprietor of the family shop...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Current Cinema FEAR OF FLYING by Terrence Rafferty.

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL WAITING by Andy Logan. There were headlines which dealt not with the to-be-mourned over part but with the future: the question of whether Governor Mario Cuomo would try to take on George Bush in the 1992 Presidential race. This decision not only involved the future of the Governor but was equated by...

Books The Art of Seeing by Brendan Gill.

The Film File Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country by Michael Sragow. A better subtitle might be “The Lost Opportunity.” Directed by Nicholas Meyer (who also helmed the best in the series, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”), this supposed valedictory for the original cast has tons of pastiche and not enough pep. Trusting the wisdom of Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the...

Poetry Speaking of Accidents by Peter Everwine. Given the general murklness of fate...

Poetry A Diary of Dying by Enrique Lihn. Since, years ago, you detested me...

Poetry Tragic Architecture by Charles Simic. School, prison, trees in the wind...