The Torrents of Spring

By Ernest Hemingway

The Nobel Prize–winning author delivers “full-blooded comedy, with a sting of satire at the expense of certain literary affectations,” in this early work (The New York Times).
 
Rumored to have been written in ten days to break a contract with his publisher, Ernest Hemingway’s The Torrents of Spring sets out to mock the reigning literary conventions of the time, including the novels of Hemingway’s own mentor, Sherwood Anderson. With appearances by F. Scott Fitzgerald and asides by Hemingway himself, it takes readers on a comedic journey featuring a pair of coworkers at a pump factory in Michigan.
 
Scripps O’Neil likes to drink with his wife, but he loses both her and his daughter. His goal is to make it to Chicago, where he can find happiness and success, but he never gets that far. Yogi Johnson is a veteran of the First World War who once spent two glorious weeks in Paris with a mysterious woman. Now, he is unable to muster up any interest in such things as romance. As Scripps falls in and out of love and Yogi searches for anything to cure his ambivalence, The Torrents of Spring offers a window into the acerbic mind of one of America’s greatest writers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jan 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781504068727

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. His novels include The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1899, 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.