COSMOPOLITANS

East and West, a previous collection of Maugham short stories and sketches, showed extraordinarily good sales when collections of short stories were st low ebb. Cosmopolitans is in somewhat similar vein -- a kaleidescope of the people who have helped make the pattern of a many faceted life -- people who have crossed his path briefly --character sketches -- anecdotes -- parables -- bits of sheer drama. Maugham is -- to my way of thinking -- the completely ""civilized"" writer, and always delightful reading.