Publication
Though he denied it, it was widely believed that Hemingway wrote The Torrents of Spring in an effort to break his contract with his publisher Boni & Liveright. According to his contract with the company, Boni & Liveright held the right of first refusal for his next three books, one of which was to be a novel, with the proviso that the contract would be terminated if one of the three were rejected.
The contract was terminated after Boni & Liveright's rejection of Torrents, though, in Hemingways selected letters 1917-1961 (edited by Carlos Baker) Hemingway shows a passionate affection for the novella. He exchanged correspondence with Sherwood Anderson in May–July 1926, stating that his motivation for writing his first long work was more motivated by his refusal to "pull punches" and encourage sub-par work out of Anderson -as his peer- and not to simply get out of a contract with Boni & Liveright.
Written in ten days, The Torrents of Spring was a satirical treatment of pretentious writers. Hemingway submitted the manuscript early in December 1925, and it was rejected by the end of the month. In January Max Perkins at Scribner's agreed to publish The Torrents of Spring in addition to Hemingway's future work. The Torrents of Spring was published by Scribner's in May, 1926. The first edition had a print-run of 1250 copies.
At the urging of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Max Perkins and Scribner's agreed to publish it because it came paired with "The Sun Also Rises."
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