The New Yorker - Issue: 34; November 5 - 2007

8 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN 31 THE TALK OF THE TOWN Roger Angell on baseball's post-season; California ablaze; youngest diplomat. John Lahr 42 PROFILES Coogan's Bluff The British comedian Steve Coogan. Anthony Grafton 50 ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS Future Reading Dreams of a universal libreny. Raffi Khatchadour an 56 A REPORTER. AT LARGE Neptune's Navy A controversial bid to save the seas. 73 PORTFOLIO Hansel and Gretel Artists celebrate an opera. Roddy Doyle 78 FICTION "The Dog" THE CRITICS''' David Denby 84 THE CURRENT CINEMA American Gangster" ROOKS Elizabeth Kolbert 87 Is there any hope for the automobile? 91 Briefly Noted Peter Schjeldahl 92 THE ART WORLD Frida Kahlo at the Walker Art Center Joan Acocella 96 DANCING Christopher Wheeldon at City Center Alex Ross 98 MUSICAL EVENTS Philip Glass's new work. Hilton Als 100 THE THEATRE 'A Bronx Tale,' "The Overwhelming." POEMS Rosanna Warren 44 "A Kosmos" Michael Ryan 67 "Insult" Robert Bly 80 "Wanting Sumptuous Heavens" COVER "Wild Fires," by Lorenzo Mattotti DRAWINGS Frank Gotham, Zachmy Kanin, Pete Holmes, P. C. Vey, Mick Stevens, Lee Lorenzjach Ziegler, Leo Cullum, Roz Chast SPOTS Benoit Jacques