Comment by Jonathan Schell. To impatient men, liberty always looks like an impediment, and there have been signs recently that the men of the Reagan Adminstration and some of their allies in Congress, as they pursue their "revolution" in American political life, are impatient, Secretary of State Haig announced some months ago that in...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael. Review of "Heartworn Highways", shot and directed by James Szalapski. It is an informal documentary about country music performers of the seventies who were part of the outlaw generation -- outlaw because it wasn't sanctioned by the recording companies in Nashville...

A Reporter at Large THE PATIENT II-DISAPPEARING INCIDENTS by Susan Sheehan. REPORTER AT LARGE about Creedmoor Psychiatric Center and the stay there, beginning June 16, 1978, of Sylvia Frumkin, 30. Between June 30 and July 6 she seemed to improve. On Friday, July 7, she received permission from Dr. Batra to leave the locked ward and go to Jewish services. Dr...

The Talk of the Town Sprouts by Bobbie Ann Mason. Talk story about a natural-foods luncheon at the Four Season, given by the editors of "Organic Gardening and Farming", published by Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pa. They entertained 80 Madison Ave. advertising agents. Tom Stoneback, the "special projects" manager at Rodale said they invited the key representatives of kitchen...

Dancing Dear Little Girl and Boy Land by Arlene Croce.

The Theatre Off Broadway by Edith Oliver.

Fiction The Gift of the Prodigal by Peter Taylor. Early Saturday morning writer looks out window of his house in Charlottesville, Va., and sees his son Ricky standing in the driveway. Writer moved into the house five year before, which was five years after the death of his wife, Cary. All of his children are grown, with families, and...

The Talk of the Town Sunday Afternoon by James Stevenson. Illustrated Talk story about a visit to the Bronx Zoo on a Sunday afternoon. Tells about some of the visitors and the animals. Writer was accompanied by Kathleen and Emily, both aged twelve...

Books Guernsey Gossip by Whitney Balliett.

Concert Records / Popular Music One of a Kind by Douglas Watt.

Fiction My Married Life: The Whole Truth Thus Far by Mark Singer. The narrator has been married quite a few times. There have been more marriages than he can at times remember. Damn near half a million. He thinks he's a pretty good catch. His first wife was Eos, goddess of the dawn. Basically, this marriage didn't work out because the Narrator...

The Talk of the Town Rogers E.M. Whitaker by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about Rogers E.M. Whitaker, who died on Monday, May 11th at the age of 81. He was best known to "New Yorker" readers under the thin disguise of E.M. Frimbo, world's greatest railroad buff. Tells about his varied activities during the 55 years he was at the magazine...

Poetry A Motor by Marvin Bell. The heavy, wet, guttural...