The New Republic

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The Myth of the Machine by Lewis Mumford(Harcourt, Brace and World; $8.95)  Here comes Lewis Mumford again, sailing majestically down the river of time. Having illuminated the history of architecture and the phenomenon of cities (among other subjects) on previous voyages, he makes the journey once again out of different scholarly and humane concerns. Let him describe his new book himself. He wrote a sort of overture to it in a recent issue of the American Scholar, in which he said: READ MORE >>

The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder (Harper & Row; $6.95)  READ MORE >>

In Cold Bloodby Truman Capote(Random House; $5.95)  READ MORE >>

    "Movies have now gone past the phase of prose narrative and     are coming nearer and nearer to poetry. I am trying to free my work     from certain constrictions--a story with a beginning, a development,     an ending. It should be more like a poem, with metre and cadence." READ MORE >>

My Autobiographyby Charles Chaplin(Simon and Schuster; $6.95)  In 1913 the manager of an English music-hall company, which had been touring the US and was laying off for a week in Philadelphia, received a telegram from the New York office of a film company: "Is there a man named Chaffin in your company or something like that?" If so, the man was to communicate with the sender. READ MORE >>

A Moveable Feastby Ernest Hemingway(Scribner's; $4.95)  READ MORE >>

The Groupby Mary McCarthy(Harcourt, Brace & World; $5.95) Mary McCarthy is both representative and sui generis. An intellectual child of the thirties, she has long been concerned with matters that concern many of us; and her total range of interests, has been wider than any other American woman writer's of her time. READ MORE >>

Like most autobiographical works Federico Fellini's scintillating new film 8 1/2 reveals something more than its author intended. Begin with the title. It derives from the fact that, up to now, Fellini has made six full-length films and has contributed three "half" segments to anthology films. Before we step into the theater, the title tells us that he is clever, and that he sees the film as part of his personal history. It also tells us that he found himself stuck for a title.   READ MORE >>

Ingmar Bergman's new film Winter Light is relatively short (80 minutes), but then none of his films is long. Most of them run 90 minutes or so. Like Through a Glass Darkly, the new one is a "chamber" work: i.e., he uses relatively few actors and settings. The time-span of the story is shorter than in the last film. There is no score; the only music occurs in church services. READ MORE >>