Letter from South Vietnam by Robert Shaplen. Discusses the "Koreagate" scandal involving bribing of U.S. congressmen by Tongsun Park. He's admitted to distributing about $850,000 to some 30 congressmen These payments were made for promoting profitable rice deals, including the sale of government Food for Peace rice to Korea as well as private-company sales, out of...

Fiction Smoke by Mary A. Robison. The recently remarried Mrs. Audrey Elber Sharon drives up to her new home in Beverly Hills, Calif., just ahead of her 26-year old son Marty Elber, who is on a motorcycle. Marty wants to borrow money. Audrey tells him to ask Hoyt, her husband, but Marty says he can't...

The Talk of the Town LETTER FROM SOUTH KOREA by Robert Shaplen. Former Pres. Yun P Sun, South Korean dissident, has let it be known that he would talk to Pres. Kim of North Korea. Tells about him - he is one of the most outspoken of the dissidents - and what he said...

The Talk of the Town Books & Co. by Whitney Balliett. Talk story about Books & Co., a new high quality old-style bookshop at 939 Madison Ave., near the Whitney Museum. At a time when books are being sold in super-bookmarkets and handled by the pound, Books & Co. has a permanent stock of fabulous literature and almost every...

Anniversary LETTER FROM SOUTH KOREA by Robert Shaplen. Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Teng attended the 30th anniversary of the North Korean revolution in Pyongyang, and promied Pres. Kim oil to fuel his military machine...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Fiction A Gallery of Women by Arturo Vivante. The narrator's father died in Italy in 1970 after a long illness. The year before he died, the narrator left his family in America and went to Italy to stay with him. The father was not comforted by him and often sent him away for being gloomy. What the father...

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

Letter from South Korea by Alex Shoumatoff. Tells about Pres. Carter's present plans for withdrawing troops from South Korea. Many Americans think that Carter has moved too far too fast. Discusses objections of the American military, government people in Washington to Carter's handling of the Korean situation. If North Korea attacked South Korea would Pres. Carter respond...

The Current Cinema ENFANT TERRIBLE by Pauline Kael.

Our Local Correspondents RADIATION ROUTE by Fred C. Shapiro. OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about the hazards of trucking radioactive materials through N.Y.C. which has been banned by the Board of Health since 1976. The ban has been challenged as being in conflict with federal regulations & there is now a possibility that it will be overturned. Tells about the hearing...

Profiles WESTCHESTER by Alex Shoumatoff. PROFILE of Westchester County in New York State. The county takes up much of the penninsula, the Manhattan Prong. Tells about the rock formations, vegetation, animals and birds to be seen there in great variety. Westchester is in a woodland called the Sprout Hardwoods. Today, it is about 80% wooded...

Fiction Atlantises by John Updike. At breakfast, Mr. Farnham sees a photograph in the paper which reminds him of someone. "Doesn't he look like Mr. Ciemiewiscz?" he asks his wife. Suddenly he realizes Ciemiewiscz is somebody he knew from his life with his first wife. The Farnhams live inland in a state people confuse with...

Letter from South Korea by Robert Shaplen. Hostility bet. S. & N. Korea continues. North Korea's steady military buildup makes Korea one of the primary danger zones of the world. The American military regards our troops in S. Korea as a vital deterrent & feels that a withdrawal will encourage Free. Kim Il Sung of N. Korea...

Comment by Mark Singer. Comment, in question and answer form, about the New York Marathon. Writer took part in it and gives his views in reply to a number of questions...

The Talk of the Town New President by Jeremy Bernstein. Talk story about Dr. Joshua Lederberg, new president of Rockefeller University, founded by John D. Rockefeller, Sr., in 1901 and situated near the East River in the 60's. A leading geneticist, Lederberg shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with geneticists George Beadle and Edward Tatum in 1958...

Poetry Nox Regina by John Hollander. Why does she permit far...

Poetry Snow by Philip Levine. Today the snow is drifting...

Poetry Present Perfect by Debora Greger. Waking to a sleepy wind. Wrapped up...