Summary (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised
Edition)  The Torrents of Spring is a short parody of Sherwood
Anderson’s novel Dark Laughter (1925) and a satire of literary
manners and morals in the 1920’s. As such, it is not an
extremely important work, but as the second published book—after
the stories of In Our Time (1924, 1925)—by a major American
writer, the novella has biographical and historical interest. To
be enjoyed, however, it must be read first for its nonsense and
humor.  For such a short work, The Torrents of Spring is
surprisingly complex—an indication of its parodic purpose.
Subtitled “A Romantic Novel in Honor of the Passing of a Great
Race,” the book is divided into four parts, each with its own
grandiose subtitle and each prefaced by an epigraph from the
eighteenth century English novelist Henry Fielding. In the
tradition of Fielding (who in Joseph Andrews was himself
parodying his predecessor Samuel Richardson), Hemingway also
conducts a humorous dialogue with his imaginary rea