The Talk of the Town Revisited by Lillian Ross. Talk story about John Huston, the movie director and actor, in New York from his home in Las Caletas, Mexico. He was here to prepare for the opening of "Wise Blood", his 35th film; to turn in to Knopf the final draft of the manuscript of his autobiographical "An Open...

Fiction The Plan by Edna O'Brien. A woman who will be attending a black tie party that evening envisions what the party will be like. Her lover will be there with his wife, whom she had seen once but did not meet. The narrator recalls the day she met her lover, at a wedding. His wife...

Books The Bear Who Hated Life by John Updike.

Fiction Postcards by Saul Steinberg. Six drawings of the following cities: Athens, Greece, Milan, Italy; Papantla (Veracruz), Mexico; Moscow, USSR; Luxor, Egypt; Paris, France...

Fiction The Diet by Woody Allen. Story, parodying style of Kafka, about F., an office worker. F. is fearful of the ridicule of his co-workers, who treat him with disdain. Believing that certain circles around town consider him to be "unpromisingly portly" he resolved to lose weight. His loss of 16 pounds led to an...

Musical Events Heart and Mind by Andrew Porter.

A Reporter at Large JEFFERSON DAVIS GETS HIS CITIZENSHIP BACK by Robert Penn Warren. REPORTER AT LARGE about Jefferson Davis, statesman and Pres. of the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1976 Sen. Mark Hatfield, of Oregon, introduced a resolution to return citizenship to Davis. The resolution passed and on Oct. 17, 1978, was signed into law by Pres. Carter. Writer tells about the...

The Talk of the Town Money by Mark Singer. Talk story about the second Money Show, which just completed a four-day run at the N.Y. Coliseum. It was promoted by Arthur J. Rand, who was responsible for the first show in 1978. For $5 admission visitors could see 150 exhibits and attend seventy "free seminars." Rand predicted an...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. Pres. Carter's proposal to register women as well as men for the draft, being opposed alike by many feminists, who are against any draft, and by many supporters of the draft, who believe that wars should be fought by men, has clouded the policy that inspired the revival of registration...

Dancing "Locale"--The Motion Picture by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Science Talent by Ian Frazier. Talk story about winners of the 39th annual Westinghouse Science Talent Search, the nation's largest high-school science-scholarship program. This year's eleven N.Y.C. area winners included Brian Greene of Stuyvesant High School, who did a math project, and Naomi Taylor, from Cardozo High, who investigated red blood cells in...

The Theatre Bella Napoli by Brendan Gill.

The Air (On Television) THE STUNT by Michael J. Arlen.

The Current Cinema VISIONS by Roger Angell.

The Art World (The Art Galleries) Matisse's Armchair by Calvin Tomkins.

Poetry Fifth & 94th by Stanley Plumly. People are standing, as if out of the rain...

Poetry The Journey by James Wright. Anghiari is medieval, a sleeve sloping down...

Poetry Rain Downriver by Philip Levine. It has been raining now since...