Torrents of Spring

"Torrents of Spring", also known as "Spring Torrents" (Russian: Вешние воды), is a novel written by Ivan Turgenev during 1870 and 1871 when he was in his fifties. The story is about a young 22 year old Russian landowner named Dimitry Sanin who fell deliriously in love for the first time while visiting the German city of Frankfurt. After fighting an abortive duel with a rude soldier and winning the heart of the local girl who was the object of his infatuation, the love-sick protagonist decided to sell off his estate in Russia in order to work at the girl's family's pastry shop and be close to his newfound love. Before he could be happily married, however, he went away to attend to a business matter and fell prey to the allures of an older and more sophisticated woman.

This literary work, as an unhappy love story, is often understood by readers as a description of Turgenev's own failure in finding romantic love. The story is partly autobiographical with the main character Sanin representing Turgenev himself during his younger days when the author did indeed visit Frankfurt and other European cities outside his native Russia.

While it is not a great literary masterpiece like Turgenev's most famous novel "Fathers and Sons", "Torrents of Spring" is significant in its revealing of the author's thoughts and intimate emotions.

A 101 minute made-for-television movie based on this short story was released in 1989 and stars Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski and Valeria Golino.