This Thursday, August 22, at 5:00 p.m., the Founders' Room at the Faculty of Law, Political, and Social Sciences of the University of Cauca will be the venue for a literary event that promises to be unforgettable. The University of Cauca, through its Publishing House, pays tribute to one of the most iconic works of Latin American literature with the presentation of the 'Southern Edition' of La Vorágine by José Eustasio Rivera, commemorating the hundredth anniversary of its first edition.

This launch is not just a celebration of the novel but also a tribute to the region and its rich cultural heritage. The edition features thirty illustrations by the renowned Cauca painter Luis Ángel Rengifo, created in Mexico City in 1947. Additionally, this version is accompanied by a foreword from the Payanés novelist Juan Cárdenas, who asserts that the novel is 'pure excess, and its intricate plays with language, with authorial figures, and with labyrinthine narratives of different voices give the novel a hallucinatory texture capable of making extreme cruelty and extreme beauty coexist in the same image.' He adds, 'In the end, we don’t know if we are witnessing something abominable or something sublime.' Let’s remember that Juan Cárdenas is the author of works such as Zumbido, Los estratos, Ornamento, El diablo de las provincias, Elástico de sombra, and Peregrino transparente, important titles that we encourage you to explore.

Similarly, the afterword is provided by the Nariño anthropologist Carlos Alberto Benavides Mora, who reminds us that La Vorágine is 'a book that confronts us with slavery, prostitution, violence, hunger, and the supremacy of "whiteness" (as a political and economic construct) that is imposed by force and arms over the Indigenous and rural world.”

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Thus, the central discussion promises to be an unmissable literary experience, featuring the participation of the Payanés writer Juan Cárdenas and the General Editor of Publications at the University of Cauca, Juan Carlos Pino Correa, who stated, 'Work on this edition began over a year ago, and the presentation of this book is a tribute from this institution of higher education to a work that is essential in readers' libraries.' The event will also include the participation of the Rector of the University of Cauca, Deibar René Hurtado Herrera, making this gathering a unique opportunity to gain insight into the creation process of this special edition, which represents not only a tribute to a literary work but also an effort to strengthen cultural ties between the departments of Cauca and Huila.

Unicauca members, as well as literature enthusiasts present in the department's capital, cannot miss this opportunity to discover a new and enriched version of La Vorágine, a true classic in the literary world. Undoubtedly, this event is more than just a book presentation; it is a celebration of our cultural identity and an invitation to immerse oneself in the intensity of a novel that continues to resonate powerfully a century after its first publication. We look forward to welcoming you to be part of this tribute in Popayán!

Written by:

Communications Management Center