The Talk of the Town D. of D. by George W. S. Trow. Talk story about a party given to promote furniture sales at B. Altman's, at the store after store closing, held around Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire. Writer attended with two friends, one Engish and one American. Writer's English friend said that the Duchess has been more in evidence than...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL AN AUTHOR BY ANY OTHER NAME by Andy Logan. In recent weeks, Mayor Koch has been publicly preoccupied with the evil empire of drug dealers. Late in April, Koch called for the death penalty for anyone with three felony convictions as a drug pusher. His friend Senator D'Amato obligingly announced that he would introduce a bill in the Senate...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. There is a striking disparity between the reaction of public opinion to the U.S. intervention in Central America and the reaction to the Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan. There is opposition to U.S. policy in Central America, both in the U.S. and outside the country. But when the Soviet Union...

Books by John Updike.

Comment Comment-part 2 by Alastair Reid. A friend writes: I woke up the other morning in a country house in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. I walked out early on the lawn, encircled by great oaks and a majestic sequoia. Scotland moved in the slow, green seep of spring. To catch the plane to...

Fiction Melissa & Henry - September 10, 1983 by Peter Cameron. Helen was the maid of honor at her little sister Missie's wedding. It was a big, formal wedding, and the reception was held at their house in New Jersey. Helen's boyfriend Carl got so drunk that he chased her into the garage and told her that he would never marry...

The Talk of the Town Involved by William McKibben. Talk story about Wendy Clarke's new video sculpture, "The Link." Writer arrived at the Harlem State Office Building to see the official opening. He could have gone to the World Trade Center, because the sculpture is there as well. There's a video camera at each site, and people perform in...

The Talk of the Town Test by James Lardner. Talk story about Dick Coulson and his rock-music band testing their music at Mt. Vernon H.S. Writer spoke with Judy Jacksina, a public-relations woman. She arranged for students to fill out questionaires giving their reactions to the band. The results would then be fed into a computer and...

Fiction Gypsies by Andrea Lee. The narrator of this story is an upper-class black girl of seven, who lives in a protected home in a Philadelphia suburb. She lives on Franklin Place. The town is pretty but has a slightly unreal atmosphere because it is a black community. Though the writer heard her parents...

Profiles THE STAFFS OF LIFE I-THE GOLDEN THREAD by E. J. Kahn. Wheat is the corn of history...

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Poetry Chardin, Whippoorwill, Towhee by Robert Cording. That second year we lived only to consider...