Mosquitoes (novel) - Significant Textual Deletions By The Publisher

Significant Textual Deletions By The Publisher

Though not regarded as an extremely cohesive story, in reading Mosquitoes, textual disjointedness is especially evident in a few sections. This is due to the four significant edits by Boni & Liveright in 1927 prior to the book’s publishing. As discussed below in the “Major Themes” section, sex and sexuality play a significant part in the discussions and interactions of the characters in ‘’Mosquitoes’’. Though the book, in its published form, does explore various erotic scenes and notions including lesbianism, four major sections were cut from the book and survive now only in Faulkner’s original typescript preserved by the University of Virginia Alderman Library. Faulkner scholar, Minrose Gwin suggests that the publisher drew the line at these four scenes due to their explicit explorations of homoeroticism. Where there are many instances of implied homoerotic, and more specifically lesbian, feelings and actions, these excised scenes most likely stretched the taboo displays of sexuality too far to be published in the 1920s.