Mosquitoes

A wealthy widow with an enthusiastic love for art arranges a yacht outing, “Nausicaa,” for a group from New Orleans to enjoy the art and conversations. Among the guests is a famous writer with a taste for pranks, a gloomy and skeptical critic, a closed-off sculptor, an eccentric artist, a refined bachelor and art connoisseur, a feminist girl, her craftsman brother, a bootlegger and his inspiration—along with others who round out this unusual group. But soon everything gets out of control: men drink heavily, flirting turns into an unreciprocated passion, some people disappear, others run the yacht aground, and the entire outing turns into chaotic madness enjoyed only by the local mosquitoes. This satirical novel, inspired by authors such as T. S. Eliot and Huxley, was written by William Faulkner as a result of the stormy time he spent in New Orleans, and it was first published in Russian.