Fiction Brandy by Firelight by Ian Frazier. she had a laugh that was like brandy by firelight. --Something I read somewhere. Writer associates specific brands of brandy and liquor with various odd fires and kinds of laughter by people who are intoxicated and witnessing the fires. For example, he lists, Courvoisier VSOP. Followed by, Burning Garden Shed...

Comment by Elizabeth Macklin. The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, on the border of Harlem, is so reverberant that the sound of drums-or even of a single drum-fills it. One drum and then, suddenly, eight drums began the funeral service for James Baldwin the other day at noon. For the...

Books by V. S. Pritchett.

The Talk of the Town Darts by Adam Gopnik. Talk story about dart throwing & about the No. 1 woman darter in the world, Sandy Reitan... The"Bull's-Eye News"which is the "Partisan Review" of the dart world, recently carried a symposium on the crisis in dart culture... The editor asked "Would you pay to attend & watch...

Letter from Washington by Elizabeth Drew. Tells about the Republican Presidential candidates: George Bush, Robert Dole, Jack Kemp, Alexander Haig, Pierre du Pont, Pat Robertson. The nomination is likely to be a thundering fight. In contrast to the Democrats, the Republicans have two major, established figures with substantial resources, heading for a collision. Vice-Pres. Geo...

Profiles BY THE NUMBERS by Jeff Coplon. PROFILE of Leonard Ragozin, 59, who devotes himself to the task of isolating a horse's true speed. He considers only objective, physical factors: the horse's final time, the jockey's weight, the wind speed, the lengths lost when a horse races wife &(most subtle of all)the resilience of a...

Fiction Pilgrimage by Susan Sontag. Writer recalls when she was 14 and in high school in Southern California. She had intellectual tastes far above her classmates. She and her friend Merrill were both enamored of the works of Thomas Mann. Merrill found that the great writer was listed in the phone book. Much to the...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Native Sons by Nancy Boensch. Talk story about attending an Arlo Guthrie concert at Carnegie Hall on the Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend. Writer sat with two 16-year-old boys who are juniors at Stuyvesant High School. They were Tony Watkins & Ben Posnack. The concert, which had been sold out 2 weeks before...

The Theatre DISTRACTIONS by Edith Oliver.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Doo Dah Parade by Bryan Di Salvatore. Talk story about attending the 11th Annual Doo Dah Parade, in Pasadena, California which is billed as a parody of the Rose Bowl Parade. Writer, who was feeling the effects of a malaise brought on by winter, lives in Missoula, Montana. He decides to go the California. Tells about the...

Poetry Snow White and Rose Red by Debora Greger. The bear at his door, begging and white clambered to the window...