The Theatre Off Broadway by Edith Oliver.

The Current Cinema AUDIENCE PLEASER by Pauline Kael.

Sketchbook by Elizabeth Drew. A REPORTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C., about the reaction of the Congress and White House to the arms-control movement, the strength of which has taken the city by surprise. The first congressional resolution calling for a mutual and verifiable freeze on the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons was...

Personal History RUSSIAN BLOOD II-MOPSY, NIKA, AND UNCLE by Alex Shoumatoff. PERSONAL HISTORY about the writer's family, some of whom fled Russia for the U.S. in 1917. Elizaveta Shoumatoff, his grandmother (called Mopsy), was a portrait painter. Her brother, Andrei Avinoff(called Uncle) was a versatile man who made his mark in the U.S. as an artist, a lepidopterist, and a...

The Talk of the Town. After by Alec Wilkinson. Talk story about seniors majoring in fashion design at the Parsons School of Design. Describes the Parsons Fashion Critics Awards Show, at the New York Hilton, which featured the work of 42 of the students. Commentator for the evening was Edith Raymond Locke, the editor of YOU! Video Magazine. Writer...

Musical Events Dedication by Andrew Porter.

Fiction At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid. Stream of consciousness story about a dream-like experience of a young woman. She sees a man lying alone in a bed waiting and waiting, he cannot conceive of what he waits for, cannot conceive of nature, or happiness. Another man, maybe the same man, gets out of bed and...

Fiction Lightning by Donald Barthelme. Edward Connors, on assignment for Folks, a magazine, set out to interview nine people who had been struck by lightning. His editor told him they wanted a five-page spread plus someone pretty sensational for the opening page. Connors advertised in the Village Voice for people who had been struck...

The Talk of the Town Heading for Work by James Stevenson. Talk story about the writer's trip from home to work, on 44th St., between 5th and 6th Avenues. He describes the sights he sees along the way: a Post sports headline "SCRATCH TIMELY WRITES" (horse); a sign for a newly renovated hospital, which boasts that it "Offers a Full Spectrum...

Books Critical Models by Helen Vendler.

Comment by Dorothy Guth. Comment about the Biltmore Hotel. A woman who works in a midtown office writes that the hotel, which has been a landmark in this city and in her life, is being torn down. Every day as she walks through the dust and din of its demolition on 43rd St., she...

The Talk of the Town Street Trees by Patti Hagan. Talk story about a meeting of citizens who care about and for street treesNof which New York City has from six to eight hundred thousand, technically under the guardianship of the Parks Department, but because of a seven-year backlog of pruning requests, generally left to make it on their...

Poetry The Girls Next Door by Thom Gunn. Laughter of sisters, mingling...