The Torrents Of Spring

By Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's novella The Torrents of Spring examines writers and their way of life. Released in 1926, the same year as The Sun Also Rises, the entertaining story of Yogi Johnson and Scripps O'Neill is often overlooked in favour of the Nobel Prize winner's later works.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781443414098

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway did more to change the style of English prose than any other writer of his time. Publication of The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms immediately established Hemingway as one of the greatest literary lights of the twentieth century. His classic novel The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. His life and accomplishments are explored in-depth in the PBS documentary film from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, Hemingway. Known for his larger-than-life personality and his passions for bullfighting, fishing, and big-game hunting, he died in Ketchum, Idaho on July 2, 1961. 

Reviews for The Torrents Of Spring

[madepercy-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I need to read more of the British and American literature of the times to understand the burlesque nature of this work. Looks like I will have to re-read this one at a later date.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I heard this book was written as a satire of the style at the time. I’ve also heard that Hemingway wrote it to fulfill a contract with a publisher he didn’t want to work with anymore. I’m not sure what all is truth, but the end result isn’t great. The book is short, but still manages to feel disjointed. Its main focus is a man who loses his wife and then marries a waitress. There’s not much meat to the story and it wasn’t memorable in any way. Taken in the context of when it was written, I'm sure there's stylistic elements to be admired, but it hasn't stood up well with age for the general public.

[srboone · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hemingway's first novel. This is Hemingway publicly mocking his friend and mentor, Sherwood Anderson. It is a harsh thing to insult the person to which you owe your first publishing deal, as well as much of your writing style, but if you have read much of the biographical material on Hemingway, you will know that he was a hugely selfish and egotistical person. It's all very humdrum, but, in fleeting moments, it's Hemingway's version of humdrum.

[g026r · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

While there are a few amusing moments in Hemingway's first novel — particularly in the Author's Notes, where Hemingway speaks directly to the reader, namedropping authors he's lunched with, asking how the readers are enjoying the book, and even offering to read or rewrite anything they care to bring him — for the most part this parody fell flat for me.Perhaps it was the unfamiliarity with Sherwood Anderson's Dark Laughter and the Chicago school in general, but for the most part I can't help but think that the majority of it just missed its target with me.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hemingway's first novel is rioutously funny; it runs quick and loose with a wit that he rarely displayed afterwards. A man's wife is late home - two minutes late - and suspecting her lost, he goes in search of her. Throughout his minor odyssey, he meets wild and unique characters; Hemingway himself narrates the writing of the story, pausing occasionally to ask if it is sufficiently enjoyable.