The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Books by John Updike.

Fiction Flotsam by Deborah Eisenberg. Charlotte was a woman with very low self-esteem, which was intensified by her breakup with Robert, a man she had been living with in Buffalo. She came to N.Y. and moved in with Cinder, who seemed fashionable and capable. She felt clumsy and ugly, and hoped that her body...

The Talk of the Town Blimp by Lincoln Caplan. Talk story about a ride in a blimp. A British firm called Airship Industries recently invited the writer to go for a ride in a Skyship 503 near Washington, D.C. It is a hundred and sixty-four feet long and sixty-two feet high. Peter Buckley, the pilot, talked about...

Fiction Tribute by Veronica Geng. Writer says that the coverage of the XXIII Olympiad overlooked certain small, unofficial things that people all over the country did to sustain the mood of Olympic pride and pain. One of these things was done right in her apartment. During the closing ceremonies of the Olympics she and Ed...

The Talk of the Town J. L. Carr by Mary D. Kierstead. Talk story about J.L. Carr, the English novelist, who was in New York presenting a manuscript of his "A Month in the Country" to the Morgan Library. In 1980, it won the Guardian Fiction Prize. It is the most recent of his five novels. Carr has also published sixty-one...

Comment by Gwyneth Cravens. A woman we know writes: My house is situated on the border between the villages of East Hampton and Amagansett. Every day except Sundays and holidays, the East Hampton noon whistle blows, and then after a short interval, the Amagansett one blows. Describes her thoughts about these whistles...

Fiction The Indian Gardens by James Robison. The narrator, who is a producer and director of films, is in Vermont for a project, for which so far he had done nothing more than scout location sites. He was leaving the Indian Gardens, taking a long time because he was on crutches. A gardener tried to hurry him...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Sporting Scene IF THEY DON'T WIN IT'S A SHAME by E. J. Kahn. THE SPORTING SCENE about the recently concluded XXIII Olympiad which took place in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union and a number of other countries boycotted the games. Among other innovations, there were presentations of synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics. Both these events were strictly for women, and women were dazzlingly...

The Talk of the Town Real Estate by James Lardner. Talk story about a lecture by Dr. Albert Lowry, "America's most interviewed real-estate educator," at the New York Penta Hotel. Writer learned of Dr. Lowry from a newspaper advertisement inviting "every person who ever wanted to break out of the financial doldrums" to a free introductory seminar that "could...

Reflections A VISIT TO RUSSIA by John Kenneth Galbraith. REFLECTIONS about Russia. Writer has made four visits to Russia over the past 25 years. He believes civil communication should be maintained between the U.S. and Russia and that something can be accomplished by it. He tells about his past visits and his 10 day stay in March in Moscow...

Poetry Black Water by Wyatt Prunty. A fly on black water stands...

Poetry Venice Revisited by Amy Clampitt. Guise and disguise, the mirrorings and masquerades...