Norman Corwin's Letters

Corwin, now 84, is esteemed as the poet of radio's best years, which he maintains lasted from 1938 to 1948, ``the shortest Golden Age in history.'' He is best known for ``On a Note of Triumph,'' broadcast on May 8, 1945, on the surrender of Nazi Germany, but he should also be remembered for his letters, collected here by Langguth ( A Noise of War ). They reveal a tolerant and generous New Deal liberal whose correspondents included movie stars Bette Davis and Charles Laughton, newscaster Edward R. Murrow, scientists, politicians, book editors, media critics and writers. It is interesting to read his judgments of authors: he considers Eliot's The Cocktail Party sterile and rhapsodizes about works written by Studs Terkel and Norman Cousins. Photos not seen by PW. (July)