The Vortex

A new translation of a Latin American classic, José Eustasio Rivera's The Vortex follows the young poet Arturo Cova and his lover, Alicia, as they elope from Bogotá and embark on an adventure through Colombia's varied and magical landscapes. When Alicia--pregnant, jealous, and more than a little fed up--disappears, it's up to Arturo, and his unstoppable ego, to follow and win her back. From the cattle ranches of the llanos to the dense jungle of the rainforest, accompanied by hucksters, cowboys, desperate souls, and a terrifying tide of ants, Arturo pursues his bride-to-be, and becomes an inadvertent witness to the appalling conditions suffered by workers forced or tricked into tapping rubber trees. Inventive, funny, and wildly prescient about the human and environmental costs of extractive systems, The Vortex is both a denunciation of the horrific human-rights abuses that took place during the Amazonian rubber boom, and one of most enduring renderings of the natural environment in Latin American literature. 100 years after its publication, it remains full of verve, and ready to inspire and delight a new generation of readers and writers.