Fiction The Dacha by Natacha Stewart. Writer reminisces about her family&her own past. Her mother &grandmother were born in Odessa. They escaped via Constantinople. The writer was born in Paris&lived there for seven years until she went to boarding school in Switzerland. Then 4 years later, in 1939, she went to...

Onward and Upward with the Arts I-CABLE by Thomas Whiteside. ONWARD & UPWARD WITH THE ARTS about cable television. It has grown from a simple neighborhood convenience for people with poor TV reception into a major industry. Despite attempts by the broadcasting and communications industry establishments to stifle it at birth, it is still expanding. Its promoters have staked out...

Comment by Suzannah Lessard. A woman we know writes about a trip she took to a men's club on Wall Street for a public-relations event. On her way she passed the Trinity Church. When she got to the masculine lunch club, she went to Room E-F. Natives of Wall Street were in...

The Talk of the Town Messages by Gwyneth Cravens. Talk story about a first grade class at Cambridge School in Cambridge, N.Y. that sent out 100 balloons with messages on them. Walking along the edge of a field in East Hampton, writer found one that said"This balloon came to you from the First Grade Children at Cambridge Central...

Books by John Updike.

Letter from Europe by Jane Kramer. Writer describes the cemetery in Montparnasse, and tells about her neighbor, who had a peculiar experience there, in which a man who cleans tombstones asked her for her stockings, giving her a new pair in exchange for the ones she had on. Emmanuel Bove, the French novelist, is buried at...

The Talk of the Town Spring Day by James Stevenson. Illustrated Talk story about one of the first irrefutably perfect days of spring on the upper West Side. People lingering in front of buildings, gathered on stoops, or sat on milk containers or on benches on the islands of Broadway. They were in groups or alone. Many who couldn't get...

Fiction In the New Canada, Living is a Way of Life by Bruce McCall. In a series of short vignettes, writer describes life in "the new Canada" as if it was an under-developed country. "Ross Farquaharson (not his real name), his wife, Helen, and teen-age daughter Kelly, all share a single living room without running water. To use the only swimming pool...

Jazz JAZZ SURVIVORS by Whitney Balliett. Obituary of Zoot Sims, saxophonist, who died Saturday, Mar. 23, 1985...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Recollections Recollections of an Irish Daybreak by Brad Leithauser. Dawn in its high...

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

The Theatre TENNIS IN CONNECTICUT by Brendan Gill.

The Talk of the Town Mirror, Mirror by Kennedy Fraser. Second part of two-part Talk story. Writer went to the premiere of "Pumping Iron II: The Women," the new movie about female bodybuilding. The premiere was to benefit the Women's Campaign Fund. Two male bodybuilders were standing under the movie marquee while a policeman kept back the crowds. Inside...

Poetry Glasses by W. S. Merwin. There is no eye to catch...