POOR COUSIN EVELYN

A handful of Jewish stories emphasizes the quality of family relationships, and, although not in the heavy dialect of Kober's Bronx episodes nor in the happy, broad humor of Hyman Kaplan, specializes the manner of living. For these are out of the upper brackets -- mostly of New York City -- and concentrate on a situation of specific importance. A spinster, 30 years a slave to a demanding mother and immured in her slavery by her relatives, misses her last chance for romance when Mama pulls out all the stops: a celebrity ruins two women's evening: a bright young bride estranges her new family through her too clever house-warming: a husband who likes to kid his wife lands her in a social impasse at a fashionable gathering: a father tells his son a story of an unforgettable character: a son tries to free his father of a leechlike refugee couple: a widow tells of her dead husband's visitations: a Negro chauffeur alone knows of the family tensions to which Mr. Feldman has been subjected: a painter in Paris recalls his inexplicable treatment at the hands of a wealthy, would-be purchaser. Finesse in the handling and pinpointing for their focus, these have a more sophisticated appeal than the above-mentioned books, although less of glamour, for instance than Nin On Weekdays. A market to be determined.