Product Description

Subtitled "A Romantic Novel in Honour of the Passing of a Great Race", "The Torrents of Spring" - Hemingway's second published work - wonderfully parodies the themes and styles of the 'great race' of writers of his generation. Spring is coming to the small towns of Michigan, but the snow still covers the land when Scripps O'Neil sets of for Chicago, decides to stop a while in Petoskey, and meets up with Yogi Johnson. Their bizarre stories are a brilliant satire on conventional fiction. The characters they meet are absurd and yet strangely familiar. Short, fast-paced, funny, "The Torrents of Spring" throws light on Hemingway's later work - and is a delight to read.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144204 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899 as the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield - this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war - in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.

Customer Reviews

Ever want to meet Hemingway?
I have wanted to meet Hemingway for some time now, but that being impossible for obvious reasons this book is the next best thing. Not only is this book outstanding but with all Hemingway's notes to the reader it's almost like he's right there with you telling the story. Every time I read Hemingway I feel the current story is better than the last, that rule holding true with this one as well. My advice to you, read it. It's less than a hundred pages anyway, so if you don't agree with me on how absolutely great this novel is you will not have wasted all that much of your time.

But at least read it for the notes and to see the struggling Hemingway trying to get you to advertise his book for him. It's quite amusing.

Hemingway's Shortest !
This was the first Hemingway book I ever read. It was about 25 years ago and at the time I had tried to read H's longer books, such as The Sun Also Rises, and failed. Well, I was only in seventh grade and I had rather puerile tastes. At the time, Torrents reminded me very much of the Richard Brautigan and the Kurt Vonnegut books I was devouring. I still think this is a great book for kids. Its not the most representative introduction to Hemingway's work, but its much more fun to read (and shorter!!!) than The Old Man and The Sea.

Maybe I just didn't 'get' it?
This was my first Hemingway. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

I found it funny in places, however I didn't really 'get' most of it. From reading reviews in other places, it seems that Hemingway was trying to make fun of other works/authors. Maybe if I'd read those I would have understood it more.

It was ok for what it was, but nothing special. Again, from other reviews it seems I should read more from him, and not take this as a true reflection of his work