The Theatre PERILS OF THE PRIESTHOOD by Brendan Gill.

Books Grove and His Monument by Desmond Shawe-Taylor.

The Current Cinema THE SWAMP by Pauline Kael.

Musical Events A Loftier Strain by Andrew Porter.

Fiction The Departed Tenant by Joseph McElroy. For some reason that he doesn't understand, John often leaves his girlfriend Linda's apartment in the middle of the night. They have been seeing each other for several months. He still feels guilty about his ex-wife. He feels he killed her, killed their life together, by not leaving, forcing...

A Reporter at Large II- THE UNDERCLASS by Ken Auletta. REPORTER AT LARGE about supported-work programs for the underclass or hard-core unemployed. Writer tells about a class in life skills, given by Howard Smith, at the Wildcat Training Center in N.Y. Students attend the training center for seven months and work at an actual job site for the...

The Talk of the Town Snatched from the Jaws by Wallace White. Talk story about some of the things writer saw, and people he spoke with, at Excellence in Woodworking, a show which was held not long ago at Madison Square Garden. In the rotunda were about a hundred booths displaying objects and literature having to do with furniture-making, carving, turning...

Comment by Alastair Reid. A crusty old friend of ours writes from the country that he has been feeling rueful about poetry. It bothers him that he doesn't know anything about some of the poets whose work he reads. About two years ago his son sent him a book of poems by Czeslaw Milosz...

Fiction New Fall Releases by Jack Ziegler. Seven drawings to illustrate seven new movies inspired by old ones, such as: "The Maltese Falcon 1981"; "The African Queen vs. The Love Boat"; "Hell's Angels of Oz"; "Dinner at Eightish"; etc...

The Talk of the Town Recycling by Joan Blount. Talk story about a glove schedule. Writer found a pair of large, heavy black-and-yellow plastic gauntlets in her office. They had been given to her by somebody who got them free at a screening of a motorcycle movie called "Knightriders." She sent them to two friends of her...

The Talk of the Town Mamluks by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about a Metropolitan Museum exhibition of Mamluk art. The Mamluks were a remarkable military aristocracy of slaves and former slaves who ruled an enormous chunk of the Middle East in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Mamluks were non-Arab slave children who were bought or captured in...

Poetry Conversation Piece by Muriel Spark. It occurs to me, perversely, perhaps, but unmistakably...

Poetry Still-Life in the Coat-Factory Office by Vickie Karp. What did you think would happen...