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1983Year WONDERFUL FOOL By Shusaku Endo. Translated by Francis Mathy. 237 pp. New York: Kodansha International/Harper & Row. $13.95. ''WONDERFUL FOOL,'' only now appearing in translation in this country, was available in England nine years ago

actually, it was one of Shusaku Endo's earliest novels, published in Japan in 1959. But Mr. Endo's American readers have been given an odd notion of his career right along. ''Silence,'' the historical novel that has been his best-known work in the United States until now, was published in Japan in 1969 but not in an English translation until 1979. A gap of 21 years stands between Mr. Endo's other 1959 novel, ''Volcano,'' and its English translation. ''The Samurai,'' another historical novel of great intensity, seems to be Mr. Endo's only work to get from Japanese to English quickly; it GASTON GOES TO TOKYO

1982Year In taking up the proposed MX missile basing plan, Congress should consider not only whether President's Reagan's ''dense pack'' approach is workable but also whether the MX is needed - or even desirable - for national security. Administration officials argue that America needs the MX to preserve its deterrence capability, which they contend has been weakened by the Soviet Union's (alleged) ability to destroy our land-based intercontinental ballistic missile force. But to guarantee deterrence, the Administration need only insure that sufficient strategic forces survive a first strike to effectively destroy the Soviet Union. It need not take new, provocative steps to threaten Moscow's retaliatory forces. REAGAN CALLS IT MX

ACTUALLY, IT'S M-HEX

1960Year HAVE you ever heard of Fanny Fern? A century ago she was the most popular American novelist and the highest paid newspaper writer of her day. "Fanny Fern" was her pen-name

actually, she was Sara Payson Willis, sister of the New York journalist, N.P. Willis, once described by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "something between a remembrance of the Count d'Orsay and an anticipation of Oscar Wilde." SPEAKING OF BOOKS

1986Year The sequence seems to go like this: 1. An American is kidnapped in Beirut. 2. Somebody at the White House hears that Iranians have influence with the kidnappers. 3. Humane impulse motivates the President to approve secret contacts with Somebody in Teheran. 4. The Iranian Somebody says Iran will use its influence to free the kidnap victim if the White House will change policy and sell it some weapons for its war with Iraq. 5. The President, humane impulses overpowering common sense, agrees to sell the guns secretly to Iran. 6. Through sinuous mercantile channels, the goods arrive in Iran, which pays a substantial price for them. The hostage is freed. 7. Back in Washington, creative accounting begins. The cooked books show that what the Iranians paid for the guns was only what they orginally cost the Pentagon

actually, they pay a steep markup which makes the deal very profitable for the seller. 8. Instead of using this profit to cut the budget, Somebody Somewhere or-ders it deposited in a secret bank account in Switzerland. 9. Somewhere Somebody empowered to write secret checks on this secret account sends Somebody Else Somewhere the money to finance the Administration-backed effort to overthrow the Marxist Government of Nicaragua. 10. Learning that money from the secret guns-for-hostage deal has been spent to fund the not-so-secret effort to undo the Nicaraguan Government, the President is appalled, for Congress has forbidden such financing, which means Somebody Somewhere, possibly in the White House, has broken the law. LIVING BREATHING MONEY

1957Year Cocoa futures rose 43 to 50 points (hundredths of a cent a pound) on 413 lots yesterday on the New York Cocoa Exchange. Volume was unusually heavy at the close, when prices hit the highs of the day. Trading was so active that the Exchange had difficulty signaling the close at 3 P.M. COCOA PRICES UP ON SUPPLY PINCH

Actuals Set High for Year-- Potatoes Rise, Sugar Is Mixed, Oil Declines Domestic Sugar Off

1955Year Strength in London and Singapore sent rubber prices soaring yesterday on the Commodity Exchange of New York. The March position climbed to a new high for the move. Most options closed at the highs of the day. The near-by months were strongest. RUBBER PRICES UP

ACTUALS SET HIGH; Other Commodity Markets Here Are Generally Dull -Coffee Futures Mixed