Spring Torrents (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Returning to Russia from a tour in Italy, twenty-three-year-old Dimitry Sanin breaks his journey in Frankfurt. There he encounters the beautiful Gemma Roselli, who works in her parents' patisserie, and falls deeply and deliriously in love for the first time. Convinced that nothing can come in the way of everlasting happiness with his fiancée, Dimitry impetuously decides to begin a new life and sell his Russian estates. But when he meets the potential buyer, the intriguing Madame Polozov, his youthful vulnerability makes him prey for a darker, destructive infatuation. A novel of haunting beauty, Spring Torrents (1870-1) is a fascinating, partly autobiographical account of one of Turgenev's favourite themes - a man's inability to love without losing his innocence and becoming enslaved to obsessive passions.

Composed thirty years after the events it describes, SPRING TORRENTS is an exquisitely written, partly autobiographical treatment of one of Turgenev's favourite themes-man's inability to learn about love without losing his innocence. This translation by Professor Schapiro is accompanied by detailed notes and a critical essay on the story's place significance in its author's life and work.