The Talk of the Town On the Banks of the Wide Mississippi by William McKibben. Talk story about the 1984 (New Orleans) World's Fair, whose promoters sent a letter aimed at potential fair attendees inviting people to call (504)525-FAIR, in order to "get an answer to any question that pertains in any way to the 1984 World's Fair.O Writer called and spoke to...

The Current Cinema IMAGE MAKERS by Pauline Kael.

Comment by William McKibben. The distinction between terrorism and more respectable forms of killing is a tormenting one. The terror in terrorism today must come less from method than from motive. Sunday's bloody massacre of American and French peacekeeping troops in Beirut evokes a heavy and draining sorrow, outrages a determination to take some...

A Reporter at Large I-LA PLACE DE LA CONCORDE SUISSE by John McPhee. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Swiss Army. Writer joined a group of the Tenth Mountain Division getting ready to patrol a sector of the uppermost Rhone. This was in the Valais, the canton with the country's highest mountains. The Division consists almost wholly of Suisses romands, as French-speaking Swiss...

Fiction Suspense Item by Penelope Gilliatt. Emma, a Russian and mathematics teacher living in London, feared accountancy. The tax year in England varies according to the person and the decision of the accountants. April was the month that her taxes were due. Emma didn't understand taxes and couldn't keep her cashbook and receipts correctly. The Inland...

Musical Events Images of Exuberant Beauty by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town Robert Kiley by Robert Shaplen. Talk story about Robert Kiley, the designated new chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city's subways, most of its buses, the Long Island railroad, and the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines of the Metro-North Rail Division, which were once part of Conrail. Kiley is 48...

The Talk of the Town Salesman by James Lardner. Talk story about the Ford Motor Company's new dealership--known as Dick Gidron Ford, in the Bronx. It opened Aug. 19, 1983, ending a 2-year period where it was not possible to buy a Ford in the Bronx because the other Ford dealers shut down. Writer met Carol Pasco...

Letter from Europe by Jane Kramer. Writer tells about two European summer festivals, the Cannes film festival in May, and the opera festival in Salzburg, which ends the festival season. Writer describes the performance of Peter Schreier in "The Magic Flute." He is an East German singer whom the writer last saw in 1981 at St...

Fiction Lena by Mavis Gallant. When Edouard's first wife, Magdalena, was in her prime, she had no use for other women. Men were the ones who took care of her, while women were only accessories. During the war, when she was in Cannes (to escape persecution of the Jews), Edouard was in London with the...

Books Sorrows of Edichka by Susan Lardner.

Poetry The Buried Graves by Brad Leithauser. From the pier, at dusk, the dim...

Poetry The Witch's Story by Lawrence Raab. Everything you have heard about me...