The Diplomatic Round by John Newhouse. THE DIPLOMATIC ROUND about Britain's conflict with the Common Market, concerning a rebate to which Britain is entitled because its annual contribution to the Community's budget is unfairly high. Tells about Europe's economic problems due to its lack of cohesive unity. The recent crises with Britain was the worst since...

Annals of Eugenics III-A SECULAR FAITH by Daniel J. Kevles. In 1930, the Darwin Trust proposed to the Medical Research Council an authoritative scheme for research in mental deficiency, to be funded by the Council, the Trust, and the Trust's institutional tenant, the Royal Eastern Counties' Institution, a hospital for the mentally deficient. It was situated in Colchester, and housed...

Fiction Opening by Donald Barthelme. Parody of the opening of a play. "The actors feel that the music played before the curtain rises will put the audience in the wrong mood. The playwright suggests that the...music be played at twice-speed... The director...is tender with the actors, like a good father, calms them...

A Reporter at Large JANINE by Berton Roueche. REPORTER AT LARGE about writer's 6-day journey to Dijon, France, on a ship called Janine, which is owned & operated by Floating Through Europe, Inc. of N.Y.C. Writer flew to Paris & took an express train to Lyons, where he boarded the ship. Tells about Dijon, which...

Centennial by Natacha Stewart. Talk story about the Centennial Jubilee of Alexandra Tolstoy's birth, held in Valley Cottage, at the Tolstoy Foundation Center. Alexandra was the twelfth child of Sophia and Leo Tolstoy. Writer gives brief history of her life before she came to the U.S.: her relationship with her father, her work in...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

Books by Naomi Bliven.

Fiction The End of the Reign by David Updike. Peter's father left home, after 20-odd years of marriage, when Peter was 17. That summer, Peter had trouble sleeping. In the wake of his father's departure & with his exodus to college impending, Peter's mother moved into the cottage across the way. In August, Peter & his...

The Theatre HARD TIMES by Brendan Gill.

Comment by William McKibben. A friend writes from Rio de Janeiro that he got to South America before the first presidential debate and that he's learned how difficult it is to follow American electoral events from there. Brazil's largest TV network started its coverage of the debate midway through the answers to the first...

Poetry Summer '82 by W. S. Merwin. When it was already autumn/we heard of the terrible weather...

Poetry The Painter to His Wife by Gertrude Schnackenberg. Once distant villages hung in the trees/Like God the Father's...