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    Torrents of Spring
    Torrents of Spring
    Torrents of Spring
    Audiobook6 hours

    Torrents of Spring

    Written by Ivan Turgenev

    Narrated by Neville Jason

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    About this audiobook

    When young Russian aristocrat Dimitri Sanin, on his way home from Italy, enters a patisserie in Frankfurt, he little dreams it will alter the course of his entire life. Faced with Gemma, the most beautiful girl he has ever seen, he is blown away by the spring torrents of love. But fate has a challenge in store for Sanin, one he must successfully overcome or lose his chance of future happiness. This tale of struggle against the force of natural passion speaks to the hearts of all who have experienced the fragile beauty of first love and the dark power of desire.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateApr 1, 2013
    ISBN9781843796930
    Author

    Ivan Turgenev

    Ivan Turgenev was a Russian writer whose work is exemplary of Russian Realism. A student of Hegel, Turgenev’s political views and writing were heavily influenced by the Age of Enlightenment. Among his most recognized works are the classic Fathers and Sons, A Sportsman’s Sketches, and A Month in the Country. Turgenev is today recognized for his artistic purity, which influenced writers such as Henry James and Joseph Conrad. Turgenev died in 1883, and is credited with returning Leo Tolstoy to writing as the result of his death-bed plea.

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    Reviews for Torrents of Spring

    4/5

    150 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      wonderful entertaining and full of surprises I learned about faithfuness and treason in a pleasant way
    • 3/5
      Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev is a novella about love, lust and betrayal. It opens with the elderly Dmitry Sanin remembering his past and contemplating his
      failure to secure love, marriage and children in his life.

      As a young man in 1840, Sanin arrives in Frankfurt where he meets and falls in love with Gemma Roselli. Although Gemma is engaged to another, Sanin pursues her. They eventually admit to loving each other and go on to become engaged. He declares himself deliriously happy and decides to sell his Russian estate to fund his marriage to Gemma. He then meets a wealthy young married woman, the seductive Maria. He allows himself to fall for her charms and though feeling remorseful he decides to follow Maria and leave Gemma.

      The story sharply defines the idea of love versus the concept of lust. Love is meant to be the ideal, but Sanin turned toward lust and ended up losing everything. Although Spring Torrents is meant to be autobiographical I still found it difficult to have much sympathy for Sanin. He didn’t have the strength of character to resist Maria, who was obviously toying with him. The author does give the story a sense of closure by having Sanin write to Gemma in later life and in turn receives her forgiveness.
    • 4/5
      An impressive work. Most people who know Turgenev’s name know him for one work: Fathers and Sons. The “story” is a conventional story of a young man and young woman falling in love—though it should be noted that much of the action takes place in Frankfurt. (It is also worth noting that substantial biographical element in the story.) Soon enough, however, the story follows a tangent that turns out not to be a tangent and most readers, I suspect, will begin to have the tiniest inkling that something isn’t altogether “right.” (Maybe it would be somewhat more accurate to say “the tiniest inkling that something horrific might be on the horizon.”) I won’t say more but Turgenev tells his story brilliantly. Even though the shocker isn’t really a shocker, what happens has terrific impact. Definitely recommended.
    • 3/5
      I listened to this book because it is on the 1001 list and because the LT 1001 group chose it for a monthly read. It took a few months for me to finish it mostly because I was too busy to sit down and listen to this. In the interests of truth I didn't find it a particularly gripping tale. I knew almost from the beginning how the romance was going to end and it was just a matter of confirming it.

      A young Russian man, Dimitry Sanin, is returning to St. Petersburg by way of Frankfurt after spending the winter in Italy. He chances upon a confectioner's shop run by an Italian family. Due to certain circumstances he misses his coach to St. Petersburg and starts spending time with the Italian family. The young lady of the family, Gemma, is the principal attraction and it comes to pass that Sanin fights a duel for her. Soon thereafter he professes his love for her and asks her to marry him. Gemma accepts although she is already engaged. In order to provide for Gemma Sanin decides to sell his Russian estate. He chances to meet an old school friend who suggests that his wife, Maria Nikolaevna, would be prepared to buy it. So Dimitry travels to Wiesbaden with the school friend and meets the wife. Maria Nikolaevna plays with him and then seduces him. Sanin travels to Paris with Maria and her husband and abandons Gemma. Years later he finds a cross that Gemma had given him when he left Franfurt for Wiesbaden and he is moved to find Gemma in order to salve his conscience.

      Apparently there are autobiographical elements to this book which makes me feel rather sorry for Turgenev but not sorry enough to give my review more than 3 stars.
    • 3/5
      While Ivan Turgenev's "Spring Torrents" was a decent book, it really wasn't spectacular enough to deserve a place on the 1,001 list (which is why I read it.)

      The novel tells the story of Dmitry Sanin, a Russian landowner who travels to Frankfurt and immediately falls in love with Gemma, whose family owns a candy shop. Antics ensue, which are fairly predictable.

      I found the characters relatively interesting but didn't find much that was very special about this book.
    • 5/5
      After being shredded by politics of both sides from “Fathers and Sons”, Turgenev wrote “Spring Torrents” to be free of any political agenda and undertones. The Russian critics of the time panned it for such a void. The foreigners who later read the translated version praised its literary artfulness. I sit squarely with the latter camp.

      Supposedly semi-autobiographical, “Spring Torrents” is the story of Sanin’s love life (the pseudo-Turgenev). The story has very sweet moments, as Sanin’s infatuation for Gemma, a beautiful and sweet Italian girl living in Germany, turns into mutual love. But no love is a straight highway, and Sanin soon finds himself captivated by another, hooked for the rest of his life till her death, somewhat mirroring Turgenev in real life with Pauline Viardot. Another aspect that was reflective of Turgenev is his opinion on serfdom; he was an advocate in ending the feudal system (abolished in 1861). In the book, Sanin hated to be asked about serfs in Russia.

      While the plot isn’t complex, I love the words. Turgenev’s rich descriptions of the characters, especially Gemma through the eyes of Sanin is flavorful and velvety. It was a joy to read of the beauty and of the love, even though it didn’t last (or did it?). The ending only showcases the strength of memories… that someone you love never truly leaves you. But then again, perhaps “Je me suis laisse entrainer par des souvenirs”.

      A few quotes:

      Sanin on Gemma:
      “Her nose was slightly large, but of a beautiful aquiline shape. There was a faint trace of down on her upper lip. Her skin was smooth and without lustre, for all the world as if she were made of ivory or of meerschaum, and her hair fell in a wave like that of Allori’s Judith in the Palazzo Pitti. Most striking of all were her eyes – dark grey, with a black order round the iris – superb, triumphant eyes…”
      And
      “The image of the young girl went with him – now laughing, now pensive, sometimes calm, even indifferent, yet always attractive. And all the time he seem to see her eyes before him – sometimes open wide, luminous and full of joy like the light of day, and then half-shaded by their lashes, and deep and dark as night. These eyes penetrated all other images and perceptions in his mind, and suffused them with a strange sweetness.”
      And
      “…he instantly noted certain characteristics of her gait, her way of moving, and oh, dear God, how infinitely precious and delectable they seem to him!”

      On speaking a foreign language – giggles:
      “It was being conducted in French, and each was massacring that language mercilessly after his own fashion.”

      On love – and its violence? :)
      “…He saw her throw back her hat with a sudden movement and look at him so trustingly – and the fever and the longing of love coursed through all his veins… he had taken a leap forward: he had plunged headlong off the dreary shores of his solitary bachelor life into a gay, bubbling and mighty flood. Never mind what grief it might bring, never a thought for where the flood would carry him or indeed for the possibility that it would dash him to pieces against a cliff!”
      And
      “…this mutual surrender of one soul to another, was so shattering, so novel, so disturbing. Everything in their lives had changed and had been re-ordered so suddenly that neither had yet regained composure. They were only conscious of the sudden rush of wind which had swept them away, like the powerful gust which a few nights ago had all but hurled them into each other’s arms...”
      And
      “First love is exactly like a revolution: the regular and established order of life is in an instant smashed to fragments; youth stands at the barricade, its bright banner raised high in the air, and sends its ecstatic greetings to the future, whatever it may hold – death or new life, no matter.”
    • 5/5
      "Spring Torrents" is not deeply philosophical or particularly profound, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a relatively simple story of passion that builds into a crescendo over the course of a book, like a 'spring torrent' overflowing its banks and running wild. If you have ever felt this the book may resonate with you; I was also drawn to it as an expression of such feelings in 1870 Russia, and in the book being somewhat autobiographical. Turgenev was himself was madly in love with Pauline Viardot, a married woman, from the moment he saw her at the Opera in 1843 at the age of 25 to the end of his life in 1883. He followed her family when they moved to Baden Baden and then later to London, completely enslaved by his passion. The Critical Essay at the end of this particular edition gave an excellent account of this love, as well as for the other forces in Turgenev's life.

      Quotes:
      On the joy of small things and 'living in the now':
      "… they suggested taking coffee in the garden in the shade of the acacias. Sanin agreed. His sense of well-being was complete. There are great delights hidden in the uneventful, still and placid stream of life, and he abandoned himself to them with rapture – demanding nothing specific of this day and neither thinking of the morrow nor recalling yesterday. How he treasured the very proximity of a creature such as Gemma! He would soon part from her, probably for ever. But for the moment, they were drifting together in the same barque along the safe and gentle course of life’s river, just like the travelers in Uhland’s poem."

      On living life:
      "‘There,’ she began with a deep and blissful sigh, ‘this is the only thing that makes life worth living. If you have succeeded in doing something you wanted to do, something that seemed impossible – well, then, make the most of it, with all your heart, to the very brim.’"

      On passion, a sampling...
      "As Sanin walked, he felt that he was even looking at Gemma in a different manner: he instantly noted certain characteristics of her gait, her way of moving, and oh, dear God, how infinitely precious and delectable they seemed to him! And she in turn sensed that he was looking at her ‘like that’."

      "She gave Sanin a quick nod and, turning swiftly, disappeared through the door, leaving behind her a fleeting but elegant impression of a beautiful neck, wonderful shoulders, and a wonderful figure."

      "As she vanished, she once more turned, looked over her shoulder and smiled, and once again left behind her the former impression of elegance. When she smiled, not one, not two, but three dimples appeared in each cheek and her eyes smiled more than her lips – her long, scarlet, tempting lips with two tiny birthmarks on the left."

      "‘Well, come on now, tell me everything,’ Maria Nikolaevna said eagerly, placing her bare elbows on the table and impatiently tapping her nails together. ‘Is it true that you are getting married?’
      Having said these words, Madame Polozov even inclined her head a little so as to look Sanin in the eyes the more attentively and the more searchingly."

      "As he left the room, he glanced back and saw that she had once again sunk into her armchair and had thrown her arms above her head. The wide sleeves of her robe had dropped almost to her shoulders. No one could deny that the pose of those arms, and the whole of that figure were of fascinating beauty."

      "But she referred to herself as a ‘good fellow’ who could not bear any ceremony: it was in these very terms that she had described herself for Sanin’s benefit. And at the same time, here was the ‘good fellow’ walking beside him softly like a cat and leaning slightly against him, looking up at him. What is more, the ‘good fellow’ was cast in the image of a young female creature who simply radiated that destructive, tormenting, quietly inflammatory temptation with which Slav natures alone – and then only some of them, and sometimes not pure Slav at that, but with a dash of something else – know how to drive us poor men, as sinful, weak men, out of our minds."

      "‘None of this solemnity, if you please,’ she whispered with a smile. ‘Do you know what? No one can put chains on me, but then I don’t put chains on others. I love freedom and recognize no ties – and that goes not only for me. And now move up a little, and let us listen to the play.’
      Maria Nikolaevna directed her lorgnette at the stage. Sanin began to look at the stage too, sitting by her side in the half-darkened box, and breathing in, however unwillingly, the warmth and the fragrance of her magnificent body, and equally unwillingly turning over in his mind everything she had said to him in the course of the evening – and especially during the last few minutes."

      "Sanin rode behind, observing Maria Nikolaevna: her elegant, supple figure, closely corseted but unconstrained, swayed gracefully, effortlessly and confidently as she rode."

      "…Sanin too trembled involuntarily from head to foot. Everything was confounded inside him – his senses were as tense as strings. He had been right when he said he could not recognize himself. He was, in fact, bewitched. His whole being was filled with … one thought and one desire. Maria Nikolaevna glanced at him searchingly."
    • 2/5
      This is a lightweight comedy romance, set in Germany. Yet again I read a Russian author and really don't get what everyone else does. It may be this 60 year old translation fails to capture the real Turgenev, or that the story itself has dated badly. It seemed quite insubstantial to me, a hint of tragedy, a dash of light satire at the expense of 19th century Germany, but quite forgettable, and unimpressive. In fact the only thing that struck me as at all interesting was the love between Emile, the brother of the fiance, and the protagonist Sanin, a curious piece of hero worship.
    • 4/5
      Spring Torrents is a fairly simple love story that turns tragic. The writing is clear and flows nicely, mirroring the easy romantic mood that the protagonist is in throughout most of the story. The ending is a bit brusque, however, leaving one wondering if Turgenev was working against a deadline or perhaps whimsically decided to end the book and move on to other endeavors. The story lacks the philosophical depth of the great classic "Fathers and Sons" but is a worthwhile read, particularly for those who love the writing of Turgenev and are interested in personal insights into his life.