'The Torrents of Spring' Is Published

Set in northern Michigan in the mid-1920s The Torrents of Spring is about two World War I veterans, Yogi Johnson and writer Scripps O'Neill, both of whom work at a pump factory.

O'Neill's wife Diana tries to impress her husband by reading books from the lists of the The New York Times Book Reviews but he leaves her for a waitress. Johnson, who became depressed after a Parisian prostitute leaves him for a British officer, falls in love with a native American woman who enters a restaurant clothed only in mocassins.

Hemingway received a mixed reaction to the novella that was sharply critical of other writers. His wife Hadley believed the characterization of Anderson was "nasty"; Dos Passos considered it funny but didn't want to see it published; while Fitzgerald considered the novella a masterpiece. The Torrents of Spring has little scholarly criticism as it is considered a to be of less importance than Hemingway's subsequent work.

"The Torrents of Spring" reveals Mr. Hemingway's gift for high-spirited nonsense. Whatever its effect on literary foibles, it contributes to that thoughtful gayety which true wit should inspire. While he ridicules certain extravagances by pushing them to the logical conclusion, Mr. Hemingway obviously entertains a robust respect for the object of his allusive gibes. In the last analysis, the book sets out to amuse. This it does.