Comment Comment, Pt. I by Jonathan Schell. The accident at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl in the Soviet Union inspires this comment. It's a peculiarity of the end of the world, which human beings threaten to bring about with their nuclear arsenals, that until it happens, it leaves us almost wholly undisturbed. We learn, it'ssaid, from experience...

Jazz Zoot and Louise by Whitney Balliett. Column-length obituary of Sims, who died in the spring of 1985, including lengthy quotes from his wife, Louise, the guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, the pianist Jimmy Rowles, the tenor saxophonist Al Cohn and the composer, pianist & singer Dave Frishberg...

A Reporter at Large A MISSING PLANE I-RECOVERY by Susan Sheehan. REPORTER AT LARGE about the history of a World War II missing plane. On Mar. 22, 1944 Lt. Robert Allred of the Army Air Forces piloted a B-24 on a flight from Port Moresby to Nadzab in New Guinea. It was later thought that due to poor visibility he...

Books by John Updike.

The Talk of the Town Sam by Lillian Ross. Talk story about Samuel Jayson LeFrak, the chairman of the Lefrak Organization, which is the nation's largest private developer & builder of apartment houses. He is 68, fasttalking and hardworking, and likes what he is doing. He tears around in a telephone-equipped car from one to another of his...

Comment Comment, Pt. II by Daniel Ford. The assassination of a public figure renews interest, temporarily, in the cause of gun control. Similarly short-lived & unsuccessful calls for reform are registered after other major tragedies... Right now, the world is quickly recovering from the general amnesia that set in soon after the bulky official reports on...

Letter from Venice by William Murray. LETTER FROM VENICE about tourism there & about flooding & pollution problems the city faces... The lagoon has been the central preoccupation of Venetian life for about 1500 years but never more so than in the past 2 decades, when the city has been repeatedly & increasingly flooded by acque...

Fiction Kathleen's Field by William Trevor. Hagerty goes to the bank for a loan because he wants to buy a piece of land to add to his farm. It's 1948, and times are bad in Ireland. The bank turns him down. 7 out of 10 of his children have emigrated. The 3 remaining are: Kathleen, the...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) by Calvin Tomkins.

The Theatre UNHAPPY TYRONES by Brendan Gill.

Fiction Honeymoon by Peter Gordon. Ralph and his wife Betty are being driven to the airport for their honeymoon by Ralph's parents. In the car behind them are Betty's parents in a baby-blue Impala with the "AL&SAL" license plate. Ralph's mother passes paper cups of champagne in the car. They are going...

Annals of Medicine THE DINOSAUR COLLECTION by Berton Roueche. ANNALS OF MEDICINE about Kevin Starke (pseud.) and his mother Laurie Starke. The child was treated for nonexistent ailments at his mother's request. She visited Dr. Vincent I. Guandolo, a senior-associate in a large pediatric group practice in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and president-elect of the medical staff of Children's...

The Talk of the Town Pastoral by William McKibben. Talk story about Steve Eftimiades, who is the caretaker of the Queens County Farm Museum, whom writer spoke with as Mr. Eftimiades clipped a male sheep named Rambo with an old fashioned pair of hand shears in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Writer called Mr. Eftimiades for more information a few days...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Poetry Summer Cold by Carol Muske-Dukes. By day, she's not so sick. She hits...

Poetry Friendship by Alicia Ostriker. 1 Gigantic purple irises Were the flower for me that visit. I...