Fiction Martin Bayer by Mark Helprin. In the late summer of 1916, a boy named Martin, 10, travels with his family by car to a hotel in Amagansett, Long Island, for a summer vacation. They live in Manhattan. The hotelkeeper, named Friebourg, teases Martin, a bright, good-natured child, and gets him to try to saddle...

The Current Cinema "Mistah Kurtz--He Dead" by Veronica Geng. Review of "Apocalypse Now", a film about the Vietnam war inspired by Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". It was directed by Francis Coppola. The screenplay is by John Milius and Coppola. He dropped his middle name "Ford...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Fiction Grandmother's House by Donald Barthelme. Grandmother's house? What? Landmark status? Well if Grandmother's house has landmark status that means we can't build the brothel, right? Right. Well if we can't build the brothel we'd better go out and look for nymphs ... Or we could steal a kid. Raise it for our very own ... There's a...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents NEW AND OLD AT KEW by Eugene Kinkead. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about the Royal Botanic Gardens, commonly known as Kew Gardens, 10 miles west of London. The largest, most influential institution of its kind, Kew comprises 300 acres set out with 80 thousand varieties of plants. Writer talks to members of the staff of over 100 scientists...

The Talk of the Town Everything Cool by Stanley Mieses. Talk story about Japanese jazz musicians in N.Y. Visits Ryo Kawasaki, guitarist, in his loft on lower Broadway. Kawasaki left Japan, where he was doing very well, to come to N.Y. to become an internationally accepted musician.. He came here in 1973 and worked with people such as Elvin Jones...

The Talk of the Town Pumping Pedals by Wallace White. Talk story about a Bally for a Car-Free Central Park held by an organization called Transportation Alternatives. This group was formed in 1973 to further responsible substitutes for the automobile. They helped establish bike lanes down Broadway and up 6th Ave. between 59 St. & 8th St. and on...

Comment by James Stevenson. A friend writes: Here are places I have taken my children in the past: Empire State Building... Burger King (This is a partial list). They are older now, and this past weekend four of them (in their twenties) wanted to go to Carly Simon night club on Martha's Vineyard." Writer...

Annals of Immigration FORTE E GENTILE by Richard Severo. ANNALS OF IMMIGRATION about the writer's father, Thomas (originally Tomaso), and his family. They came from Carunchio, Italy, high in the south-central Apennines, in the Abruzzi. This is a very poor area that resists comprehension. Thomas left Italy in 1907, at 15, with his mother, Maria Antonia. His father...

The Talk of the Town Father Flye by Lincoln Caplan. Talk story about Father James Harold Flye, 94. He has lived in N.Y. since 1959. Writer visits him at his house, adjoining the church of St. Luke in the Fields, on Hudson Street. Father Flye is possibly best known as a correspondent of James Agee and most would place him...

Poetry The Train Out by Sydney Lea. Fluff from his lap robe hangs in a rift...

Poetry An Expanded Want Ad by Brad Leithauser. Although it's true...