Obituary Charles Saxon by Lee Lorenz. Obituary of "New Yorker" artist Charles Saxon, who died at the age of 68 on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 1988...

The Theatre PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Mimi Kramer.

Letter from Trieste by Jane Boutwell. On the first Sunday in Sept., a ceremony took place in the gymnasium of the Scuola Elementare Morpurgo-a private Jewish elementary school in Trieste, which resurrected for most of those present vivid memories of Italian Fascism. Prof. Adolfo Steindler, in his early 70s, handed out year-end examination grades...

The Talk of the Town N Train by Mary Norris. Talk story from a young woman who writes about a man reading the Bible aloud&preaching to his fellow passengers on the N subway train. Most people who read the Bible on the subway have small pocket editions, but this young man looked as if he had come away...

Reflections WHERE THE WARS CAME FROM by William Pfaff. REFLECTIONS about Central & Eastern Europe, where, today, nothing is settled. Everything was supposed to be settled 40 years ago by Stalin. Nothing fundamental or lasting has been changed by Soviet political control. The problem is what to do about the politically obsolescent, intellectually discredited, economically unworkable structure that has...

Comment by Richard Rhodes. Comment about the discovery of nuclear fission, late in 1938, in Nazi Germany. The work at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, on the eve of WW2 is a fair candidate for the single most significant discovery of the 20th century. By 1945, it had elaborated into an industrial complex in the US...

The Current Cinema by Terrence Rafferty.

Greetings, Friends! by Roger Angell. Whose words these are I think you know...

The Talk of the Town Turkey Talk by Thomas Hackett. Talk story about the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line & its director, Mrs. Jean Schnelle. She & the 43 other professional home economists who operate the Talk-Line hear from people all over the US who don't know the first thing about cooking a turkey. When the toll-free Turkey Talk...

Profiles THE INTENSITY FACTOR by Carol Flake. PROFILE of D. Wayne Lukas, a California horse trainer. From his base in California, Lukas has created a virtual franchise system of training, with racing stables operated in his name at tracks around the country. Last year, his horses won $17 1/2 million in purses, three times the record earnings...

The Talk of the Town Gorby by Richard Brookhiser. Talk Story about USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's motorcade passing through the financial district during his visit to Manhattan earlier this month. A spectator mentioned the resemblance of the writer's fedora to Gorbachev's. Writer called hatters to see if the Soviet leader's headgear was having any fashion impact...

Fiction Home For Christmas by Jeffrey Shaffer. Writer comes home for Christmas to his very eccentric family. Standing outside the house, he notices the white vanilla frosting his mother has applied to the porch & railing. Inside, his Aunt Gloria, wearing a Santa hat & white beard, greets him. As her lips touch his cheek he realizes...

The Talk of the Town Records by Adam Gopnik. Talk story about a computerized data bank containing all the popular songs of 1988, a project of the ARChive of Contemporary Music. The ARChive is primarily a huge record collection--an encyclopedic outgrowth of something that B. George began many years ago, as a teenager in Youngstown, Ohio--& its...

Books by Helen Vendler.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Fiction The Man Who Became A Soprano by John Updike. The recorder group began in the uxorious warmth of the Weiss' model marriage. Fritz buys his wife Andrea a recorder for their 7th wedding anniversary&they begin playing duets. Their new neighbors, Terry&Jessie Bridgeton express an interest in playing&they soon form a group which meets...

Poetry Kitchen Vision by Eamon Grennan. Here in the kitchen making breakfast...