Letter from London by Mollie Panter-Downes. The Royal Academy's major winter show, on view until February, is called "The Great Japan Exhibition." It is the most ambitious thing the Royal Academy has ever staged, the result of five years' planningNon the part of Hugh Casson, its president; the team of experts he took to Tokyo; and...

Fiction Let Us Save the Universe by Stanislaw Lem. An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy, Space Traveller) After a long stay on Earth, Ijon Tichy set out to visit his favorite places from previous expeditions. Everywhere, he found pollution, drunkenness, ugliness. The problem is cosmic tourism, which Tichy believes is all right in moderation, but which has gotten out...

Fiction Rolled in Rare Bohemian Onyx, Then Vulcanized by Hand by Bruce McCall. Parody of mail-order catalogues that advertise limited editions of medallions, etc., with the idea that the limited editions will one day be collectors items. E.g., Think of an heirloom so limited in availability that when you order it the mint specially constructed to craft it will be demolished. Kiln...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "Reds." Warren Beatty was the producer, the director, and co-writer (with British dramatist Trevor Griffiths), and is also the star in this film about the American journalist John Reed's participation in the Bolshevik Revolution...

Profiles KUROSAWA FRAMES by Lillian Ross. PROFILES about recent visit of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa to the United States. Kurosawa was here as the guest of the Japan Society, whose Film Center was putting on a two-month retrospective of his 26 films. On his first day in this country Kurosawa, who does not speak...

The Talk of the Town Small Farms by Lincoln Caplan. Talk story about a symposium on small farms held by the U.S Department of Agriculture not long ago, at a government research center outside Washington. In three days of sessions the farmers attending the conference heard talks about the Colorado potato beetle and the horn-faced bee and about effective...

The Talk of the Town Last-Minute Holiday Shopping Suggestions by Mark Singer. Talk story about the December Bonanza sale at the Male Shop, at 1974 Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn. Writer tells how to get there on the subway and bus. Then he describes the one-hundred-dollar package. Sizes at the shop run from 36 short to 60 long. Price tags are...

Comment by Joseph Morgenstern. A friend writes from Los Angeles that the crime rate there is on the rise and the local TV-news departments never miss a chance to remind residents of it. News broadcasts begin with stories of murder, rape, and gang violence. Writer has become obsessive about camouflaging the tape deck...

Fiction Lumber by Frederick Barthelme. Frank is helping Cherry move to a new apartment complex three blocks away from the one where they both live. She's moving because some kids broke into her apartment and robbed and terrorized her. At four-ten that morning, the telephone rings. It is Lois, who needs to talk to...

The Talk of the Town Short, Loud, and Fast by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about a free concert for children at Carnegie Hall, performed by the American Symphony Orchestra. The concert was one of six identical one-hour programs, which have been designed to introduce about 15,000 public- and parochial-school pupils to the symphonic repertoire, in the hope that some of...

Musical Events Triptych by Andrew Porter.

Letter from Europe by Jane Kramer. Early last month, the Hungarian government commemorated the anniversary of the Hungarian revolution for the first timeNthat is, when the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party, anxious about the bad influence of Poland, decided that it would speak out about the counter-revolution that had threatened Hungary in 1956...

The Theatre FAMILY TROUBLES by Brendan Gill.

Books Yes! by Whitney Balliett.

Comment by Mark Singer. A friend writes that this town is crawling with spies. Large numbers of spies, all masquerading as non-spies. There was a recent story in the Times with the headline "NEW YORK TERMED 'HUB' OF FOREIGN SPIES IN U.S." This article says that foreign spies are all over the place...

Poetry Rage by Peter Meinke. 18 below: the black-capped chickadee...