Fiction Death in Jerusalem by William Trevor. Francis runs a hardware store in County Tipperary Ireland and lives with his 80 year old mother. His brother, Father Paul (a priest) comes to visit once a year from America where he runs a boys home. Francis, who is very religious, has always wanted to visit the Holy Land...

Letter from Washington by Richard H. Rovere. On "Issues and Answers" last Sunday, Howard Baker, the Senate Republican leader, said he is counselling the Administration that no agreement of any kind should be negotiated with the Russians as long as they provide advisers and the Cubans provide cannon fodder to what he characterized as the Ethiopian "aggressors...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Birds in the Snow by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about where birds live in the city during the winter. The birds' biggest problem is the snow which covers the food supplies. Richard Edes Harrison amateur ornithologist, says birds fed continually at feeders get too dependent on it. Pigeons have multiplied in New York because of the plentiful...

A Reporter in Europe HAMBURG by Jane Kramer. A REPORTER IN EUROPE about West Germany. There has not been a week in the past five years without some incident involving terrorists or terrorism. Perhaps 100 terrorists operate underground with help from about a thousand active sympathizers. Tells about the first terrorist group, calling itself the Red Army Faction...

Books by V. S. Pritchett.

The Talk of the Town Barrels by Kennedy Fraser. Talk story about young woman living in Manhattan who misses the way spring comes in the country. She gardens on her bowling alley of a balcony. The forsythia and honeysuckle in the wooden boxes at either end are showing signs of spring. She has drilled drainage holes in five huge...

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

The Talk of the Town Municipal Jokes by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about 1978 Inner Circle Show, "Big Apple Turnover," an evening of political satire presented annually by a group of City Hall reporters in the Grand Ballroom of the New York Hilton. This year's show dwelt on the financial crisis and uneasy relations between City Hall and Albany. Describes...

Fiction Is There a Writer in the House? by S. J. Perelman. With mass authorship erupting all over the place, the writer begins to believe that the individual writer is obsolete. For 15 years now he has suspected certain authors, notably those ranging from 3 to 8 years old, of withholding credit from collaborators--mothers and obstetricians, for instance. A Londoner, Max...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents A VERY SPECIAL MONUMENT by Jervis Anderson. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about all-black Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Dunbar had been the foremost educator of blacks, its graduates went on to success in numerous professions. Tells about the controversy, continuing from 1974 to 1977, over tearing down the old building when the school prepared to...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "American Hot Wax", the story of disc jockey, Alan Freed, credited with having invented the term "rock 'n' roll...

Comment by Joseph Morgenstern. Comment about the recent rains and mud slides in California which have destroyed homes and ocean-front property. Burgess Meredith's house seems to be falling into the ocean. After the most recent storm, it lost the teahouse but the house is still standing. It has become the symbol of beleaguered...

Poetry Eating Rice by Jack Galef. Solemn willows of grain...

Poetry Baigneuse by John Hollander. Like some exquisite afterthought she lingers...