The Torrents of Spring

Displaying early humor and wit, Ernest Hemingway’s charming and entertaining novella, The Torrents of Spring, is a hilarious parody of Sherwood Anderson’s Dark Laughter. Anderson was one of many influential writers in Hemingway’s early years. Exasperated with their pretentious literary styles and ideas, he crafted his disillusionment into a comedic satire aimed not only at Anderson’s book but numerous other great writers of the day, including D. H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and John Dos Passos.

The Torrents of Spring was published in 1926, the same year as Hemingway’s acclaimed novel The Sun Also Rises. It is a fascinating and unique look into Hemingway’s formative years as a storyteller and writer.