Comment by Berton Roueche. A friend who lives in the country writes: I have a pear tree that is one of the joys of my little place. It is a Bartlett pear..and, over the four or five years in which it had been maturely producing, it has never failed to yield a reasonable...

Reflections THE SOVIET MYTH by William Pfaff. REFLECTIONS on U.S. -Soviet relations which, under the Carter administration, have been characterized mainly by uncertainty. Since the Vietnam War, the American liberal elite, which still mostly runs the country, has been pessimistic, according to Henry Kissinger and Sen Moynihan. We are reluctant to conduct any policy anywhere. We don't...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Complete column review of Bergman's film "Autumn Sonata...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Literacy by Mark Singer. Talk story about a ceremony honoring Mina P. Shaughnessy, author of "Errors and Expectations" (Oxford Univ. Press) and associate dean of the City University of New York. Joseph Duffey, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, presented her with a signed copy of Pres. Carter's proclamation of International Literacy...

Books by John Updike.

The Talk of the Town In the Long Run by Patti Hagan. Talk story which reports on the 1978 New York City Marathon by joining the 9,800 runners in the 26-mile five borough race. Describes activities of runners before the race began (on Oct. 22) at 10:30 AM on the Staten Island side of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Quotes a disciple...

The Race Track by G. F. T. Ryall. In recognition of his contribution to the sport Frank E. Kilroe (Jimmy to almost everybody at the race track), the director of racing at Santa Anita, will be the guest of honor at the Thoroughbred Club of America's awards dinner at Keeneland on Nov. 12th. Tells about his career in...

The Theatre ANIMATED DRAWINGS by Brendan Gill.

On and Off the Avenue Feminine Fashions by Kennedy Fraser.

Dancing Action at Jo Jo's by Lillian Ross. Talk story about a disco dancing lesson at Jo Jo's Dance Factory on Broadway at Fifty-fifth. Jo Jo is Joseph Benjamin Smith, the dance consultant for the movie "Saturday Night Fever." Lola Finkelstein, who had been taking lessons from Jo Jo to learn how to dance like John Travolta...

A Reporter at Large THE MASHPEES by Paul Brodeur. REPORTER AT LARGE about the land claims of the Mashpee Indians who live in Mashpee on Cape Cod...

Dancing Action at Jo Jo's by Lola Finkelstein. Talk story about a disco dancing lesson at Jo Jo's Dance Factory on Broadway at Fifty-fifth. Joseph Benjamin Smith's (Jo Jo) mother, Anna Grayson, worked at a dancer with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. Dunham created a special dance routing for Jo Jo when he was thirteen...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Fiction An Influx of Poets by Jean Stafford. Cora's marriage to poet Theron Maybank dissolved after five years in an awful summer in Maine, right after the war. Every poet in America, it seemed, came to visit. They sat around reading their own works aloud, not listening to each other. One day, Cora went to Boston where a...

Fiction One Order of Blintzes, and Hold the Flimflam by S. J. Perelman. The narrator, Jud Kluckhorn, is eating borscht and reading detective fiction in Cooper's Dairy Restaurant on the lower East Side when he is joined by J. Willis Wainwright, vice-president of the Gripfast Mucilage Co They order blintzes. The stranger tells Kluckhorn that a Saudi Arabian businessman, Akram Ojjeh, has...

Poetry For the Stranger by Carolyn Forche. Although you mention Venice...

Poetry A Dog by Jonathan Aaron. While he jogs...

Poetry Woodsmoke by Brendan Galvin. It drifts out like...