Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes is a novel by William Faulkner, first published in 1927.

Set largely on a yacht cruising around Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, it brings together a mixed group of writers, artists, socialites, and hangers-on. Over several days, their conversations, flirtations, and frustrations create a sharp, often satirical portrait of the bohemian art world of the 1920s.

The plot is loose and episodic, focusing less on events and more on clashing ideas about art, creativity, and desire. As the characters talk, argue, gossip, and drift in and out of each other’s company, the novel exposes the vanity, insecurity, and confusion that often lie beneath artistic pretensions. Moments of humor and cruelty sit side by side, revealing how fragile the boundaries are between inspiration and boredom, sincerity and pose.

Though not as widely known as Faulkner’s later masterpieces, Mosquitoes offers an early glimpse of his interest in experimental form, interior conflict, and social satire. It captures the tensions of a generation struggling to define what art should be and what it means to live an “artistic” life in a world that constantly distracts, irritates, and disappoints.

"The Nausikaa lay in the basin—a nice thing, with her white, matronly hull and mahogany-and-brass superstructure and the yacht club flag at the peak. A firm, steady wind blew in from the lake and Mrs. Maurier, having already got a taste of the sea from it, had donned her yachting cap and she now clashed and jangled in a happy, pointless ecstasy."