The Vortex (novel)

"The Vortex" ( _es. La Vorágine) is a novel written in 1924 by José Eustasio Rivera.

This novel relates the adventures of Arturo Cova and his lover Alicia, as they elope from Bogotá, through the flatlands and tropical jungles of Colombia.

In this way Rivera is able to describe the magic of these regions, with their rich biodiversity, and the lifestyle of the inhabitants. However, one of the main objectives of the novel is to reveal the appalling conditions under which workers in the rubber factories toil. "La Vorágine" also introduces the reader to the tremendous hardship of enduring the adverse environment of the rainforest, as the protagonists (Arturo Cova and Alicia) get lost and are unable to be found. As the book says: "Se los tragó la selva" (literally, "they were swallowed by jungle").

The novel is written in an elegant and refined prose, full of metaphors and poetry, that shows the beauty and exotism of the virgin rainforest.

"La Vorágine" is noteworthy as the seminal novel of Latin American modernism, the "jungle novel", and recognised as one of the best novels written in Colombia.

English translation
*Rivera, José Eustasio "The Vortex". Earle K. James, translator (1928). Panamericana Editorial Ltda (2003). ISBN 9583008044