The Talk of the Town Honors by Wallace White. Talk story about a party at the Swedish Consulate, at Park Ave. and 64th St., given by Bengt Friedman, the Swedish consul-general and his wife. They invited Nobel laureates from previous years who live in this part of the country to attend a reception and a buffet dinner and...

Dancing Split Week by Arlene Croce.

Fiction Thailand by Donald Barthelme. A young man listens to an old Army sergeant reminisce about the Korean War. He recalls that in 1952 they were partying at Thailand. It was a golden revel, said the sergeant, if you liked curry, which he did and does. There were 37 washtubs full of curry, a different...

Letter from London by Mollie Panter-Downes. In England, in spite of the media's exceptionally thorough explaining of the campaign, Governor Reagan remained still largely unknown, but President Carter had come to seem only too worryingly known to many ordinary British, so enthusiasm & disappointment cancelled each other out. To judge from what people are saying...

The Talk of the Town Sharpener by Wallace White. Talk story about a pencil-driven pencil sharpener invented by Jose F. Vila of Queens. Mr. Vila recently received a patent for his invention. It took about 6 years to perfect. He thought it was silly to use electricity to sharpen pencils, yet he could see the benefit of a...

Books An Armful of Field Flowers by John Updike.

Musical Events Light by Andrew Porter.

A Reporter at Large RAPIDO by Berton Roueche. REPORTER AT LARGE about several satisfying train trips in Switzerland and Italy. Writer went from Geneva to Venice, then to Florence and then to Rome. He travelled first class; found the trains in fine condition; they arrived promptly; the food served was delicious; the service was excellent. He enjoyed the...

U. S. Journal NEW YORK THOUGHTS FROM A BOOTH AT REIDY'S by Calvin Trillin. U.S. JOURNAL: MANHATTAN, about Reidy's, a restaurant on 54th St. between 5th and Madison, that has remained open while a real estate developer has flattened every structure around it in preparation for the construction of a 42-floor office building that will be known as 520 Madison Ave. Underneath a...

The Theatre Bargaining with God by Edith Oliver.

The Talk of the Town From the Top by Lincoln Caplan. Talk story about the first of this season's series of four Frank Nelson Doubleday lectures, held in Flag Hall of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of History and Technology in Washington. It was called "From the Top/Sightlines on Music in America.O Composer and conductor Gunther Schuller lectured on what...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. The ten minutes of silence observed in memory of John Lennon by the crowd in Central Park and by other crowds around the world two Sundays ago was the sparest ceremony in a long, long time. The one activity of the mourners--prayer for Lennon's soul, suggested by his widow...

Fiction The Turkey Season by Alice Munro. When the narrator was 14 she got a job as a turkey gutter at the Turkey Barn for the Christmas season. The other people who worked there were Lily and Marjorie and Gladys, who were also gutters; Irene and Henry, who were pluckers; Herb Abbott, the foreman, and Morgan Elliott...

The Talk of the Town Garlands by Alastair Reid. Talk story about awards given to Robert Penn Warren and the Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The awards were established by the Common Wealth Trust, which is a foundation set up under the will of Ralph Hayes, a businessman and public servant from Delaware who died in 1977. They honor...

The Talk of the Town Home Entertainment by Wallace White. Talk story about the first national Home Entertainment Show at the Coliseum...

Poetry Greeting, Friends! by Roger Angell. Listen, dear readers, and you shall hear...

Poetry Steel by Philip Levine. Foxtails, vines, black rocks, small streams...