Books by John Updike.

The Theatre FADING FRIENDSHIPS by Brendan Gill.

The Talk of the Town Prominent by William McKibben. Talk story about going to an East Side night club where pets of celebrities were attending a party in honor of a new line of pet-care products bearing the name of Warren Eckstein. Products include four different kits for house-breaking the dog; the cat; keeping the dog from...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

American Chronicles RUMORS AROUND TOWN by Calvin Trillin. AMERICAN CHRONICLES about a murder in Emporia, Kansas, for which the victim's wife admitted conspiring with her minister, who may have been her lover, to hire a hit-man. While no one has been charged with the murder, one of its consequences was the minister's conviction for the murder of...

Fiction The Ivy in the Chimney by James Wilcox. After the Christmas holidays, Mr. Keely, 61, decided to clean out the ivy in his chimney, while his wife was away. Christmas just wasn't Christmas without a fire; he was sure that this was the reason the holidays hadn't been a success this year. A fire was a focal point...

A Reporter in Washington by Elizabeth Drew. The President's rescue of the tax-reform bill in the closing days of the congressional session was a sign of both his political strengths & weaknesses as the first year of his second term came to an end. Reagan faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of his own party...

The Talk of the Town Poets' Corner by Anthony Bailey. Talk story about the Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey in London, and interview with the Rev. Dr. Edward Carpenter, who has just retired from being Dean of Westminster Abbey. Writer thought of visiting the Poets' Corner after 3 English poets died in a 12-day period not long before Christmas...

The Art World Jean Helion by Dan Hofstadter. Full column essay on artist, Jean Helion, now 81, who is one of two major living representatives of the classic prewar School of Paris. (Balthus is the other one). Last winter writer visited the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris where a major retrospective of Helion's paintings...

Comment by William McKibben. Eriter begins a Comment on violence, poverty & repression in the Philippines by asking how can a healthy person know what it is like to be badly sick. It is even more difficult to understand the poverty that is the daily experience of huge numbers of the world's people. Writer...

Jazz Joe Wilder by Whitney Balliett. Life and career of trumpeter Joe Wilder, 63, who was one of the first musicians to move easily between the world of straight music and the world of jazz, and he was certainly the first black musician to do so...

Fiction Continuo by Robert Starer. The writer, a student pianist, entered the State Academy of Music in Vienna, in the fall of 1937, at the age of 13. Students there liked to trace their teacher's teachers to create a pianistic genealogy for themselves similar to that of nobility. If your teacher's teacher had studied with...

Poetry Early-Evening Algebra by Charles Simic. The madwoman went marking "X"s...

Poetry Moving Pictures by Susan Prospere. Because you are a doctor with silver instruments...

Poetry Hindu Illumination by James Merrill. T loping down the stairs at Mellifont...