Fiction Midair by Frank Conroy. In Manhattan in 1942, six-year-old Sean and his sister Mary find their father unexpectedly waiting to take them home from school. He has been in a mental institution. As they don't have a key, the three enter their tenement building by the fire escape. Their father washes the...

Fiction Barcelona by Alice Adams. Persis and Thad Fox, a middle-aged American couple are vacationing in Barcelona. She is smaller, with pale hair; she walks fast to keep up with her husband. She wears gold chains and carries a small handbag. She's a fairly successful illustrator, beginning to be sought after by New York...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Spender at Seventy-five by Herbert Mitgang. Talk story about a visit with the writer Stephen Spender at his house in London shortly before his seventy-fifth birthday. He is working on several projects and appeared happy to be living by his pen. Between the wars, Spender and several others, including W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, influenced...

Comment by E. J. Kahn. Now that the President has assured us that the economy is looking up, writer and his wife have been thinking about buying a new motor vehicle, though they wonder what you can get these days for under ten grand that will last for a couple of years. They've been watching...

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL HAVE YOU MADE SOMEBODY CRY TODAY? by Andy Logan. Mayor Koch is taking his February vacation in Italy and Germany this year. He has been busy promoting his book, "Mayor," which became available to the public on January 31st. Describes what he said about the 1980 elections in the book. Mentions various appointments made during the past few months...

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

Reflections WEAPONS AND HOPE IV-CONCEPTS by Freeman Dyson. REFLECTIONS about nuclear weapons. Writer wants to engage in rational discussion and debate. The U.S. now possesses weapons of mass destruction whose capacity for killing or torturing people surpasses all imaginings. The Soviet government has weapons that are as bad or worse. The two countries have been almost totally unsuccessful...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

Books by John Updike.

The Talk of the Town Fleeting by William McKibben. Two-part Talk story about the Cabbage Patch products. Writer went to two parties, the first at Regine's, where Coleco Industries announced their 1984 plans for the dolls and other related products. Writer talked to several of the executives. No two dolls are alike, so there is an infinite demand...

The Talk of the Town Generator by Lillian Ross. Talk story about Patricia Reed Scott, who has been the director of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting for the last eight months. "The performing arts are a major generator of dollars in the city's economy," Miss Scott said. Gives biographical information, including her marriage to George C...

Poetry Saying Goodbye to the Dead by Linda Gregg. I walk on the dirt roads being my father...

Poetry The Future by T. R. Hummer. Portico, colonnade, tiled hallway/Open on our left to rain, It will be...

Poetry Akansas Traveller by Charles Wright. On the far side of the water, high on a sandbar...