Book excerpt: This Nobel Prize–winning author’s satirical Southern novel is “full of the kind of swift and lusty writing that comes from a healthy, fresh pen” (Lillian Hellman, New York Herald Tribune). If ever there was a William Faulkner novel that could be called a portrait of the artist as a young man, Mosquitoes is that book. Set on a yacht excursion on Lake Pontchartrain, Faulkner’s second novel introduces his readers to the artistic community of New Orleans, a vibrant band of aspiring artists, charismatic dilettantes and social butterflies. A satiric look at the world Faulkner himself inhabited in his early years as a writer, Mosquitoes is a high-spirted, engaging novel from the Nobel laureate–winning author known for his classic portrayals of the American South. “It approaches in the first half and reaches in the second half a brilliance that you can rightfully expect only in the writings of a few men.” —Lillian Hellman