Our Far-Flung Correspondents WATCHING THE SHORE by James Stevenson. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONENTS about Sen. Edward Kennedy, consisting of interviews with him on July 14th and 15th, in Hyannis Port and also referrring to conversation with him a month earlier in his Washington office. At that time, a New York "Times"-CBS News poll had shown Democrats favoring Kennedy...

The Talk of the Town Painting by Kennedy Fraser. Talk story from friend who summers in Yorkshire. Writer describes house painting. While painting the writer sees, at the bottom of the valley, a group of people participating in sporting events: a fell race, after the egg-and-spoon and before the farmers faced a game of tug-of-war...

Comment by Elizabeth Macklin. COMMENT about Pope John Paul II's visit to New York. A few days before he arrived, we'd just leaped onto an I.R.T. Broadway local and glanced up to see a placard abofe the doorway which said !BIENVENIDO, PAPA JUAN PABLO II! Suddenly, it seemed quite possible that during his visit...

The Current Cinema Three Festivals by Donald Barthelme. Review of "Luna," which opened the New York Film Festival...

Reflections INFLATIONARY CAPITALISM by Robert Heilbroner. REFLECTIONS about inflationary capitalism, a term that reflects the writer's view that inflation should not be seen as an ailment but as a way our complex economic system works today. With instability characterizing its elan vital -the universal drive for betterment-capitalism has changed its mode of working at different...

The Talk of the Town Curtain by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about the new curtain for the Metropolitan Opera, to replace the old curtain which dates from 1966. The new curtain, of gold Scalamandre silk, was made at the Scalamandre silk mill in Long Island City, where Edwin Bitter, the company's president, explains the curtain's design...

The Talk of the Town Two Gatherings by George W. S. Trow. Talk story about fashion show sponsored by Bloomingdale's to benefit Boys Harbor. Tells about reception at the store's new restaurant, Le Train Bleu. Count and Countess Rudi Crespi were there. The show itself had as its focus a new makeup collection by Estee Lauder and the clothes of the Italian...

Fiction Love by Grace Paley. A middle-aged married woman writes a poem about love. She tells her husband about it and he lists the women he has loved. When he mentions Dotty Wasserman, she says Dotty Wasserman is a character in a book. He is stubborn though, so she goes out for the groceries...

The Talk of the Town Book Country by E. J. Kahn. Talk story about "New York is Book Country" festival, held on Fifth Ave. The first of its kind, it was organized by Linda Exman, marketing director for M. Evans & Co. Books were not sold at the stalls on the avenue but at nine retail bookstores in the area, which...

Onward and Upward with the Arts NEXT TO GODLINESS by Mary-Kay Wilmers. ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS about Pears' soap and "Pears' Cyclopaedia," originally published in 1897. A facsimile edition has been published by Pelham Boo Ltd., at a cost of 5 pounds. It was originally the inspiration of Thomas Barratt, who joined the family business when he married Mary Pears...

The Theatre CRYING FOR EVA by Brendan Gill.

Fiction Saturnian by Daniel Menaker. Saturn is much closer to us now than it was before the recent flyby, when a spacecraft equipped with a camera sent pictures back to earth. Saturn is as large as 750 earths and some change. It has 33 moons (Lapidus, Methedrine, Janis, Tetley, Runnymede, Vegas, etc) none of which...

Fiction So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell. Writer continues to imagine the events happening around Cletus Smith prior to the murder of Lloyd Wilson, and the suicide of Clarence, Cletus' father. He imagines the thoughts of Wilson, Wilson's estranged wife, Clarence and Fern Smith, and other observers: the landlord, the housekeeper, the dog. Describes how the love...

Comment by George W. S. Trow. COMMENT about a book called "The Shyness Workbook": one result of our national need for new and more interesting diversions. The authors are Philip Zimbardo and Shirley Radl...

Poetry The Sentry of Portoferraio by Daniel Mark Epstein. Blame this island town for the broken boy...

Poetry October by Charles Wright. The leaves fall from my fingers...

Poetry Mushrooms by Mary Oliver. Rain, and then...