José Eustasio Rivera's novel La vorágine was published in November 1924. Sebald says the novel painted a portrait of the cruelty suffered by the tribes of the Amazon.

He says the author pretended to be the amanuensis of another's manuscript. The impersonation scheme spans centuries, and is activated every time the appearance of truthfulness must prevail over lies, Sebald writes. The novel is many things at the same time, a nature novel, an adventure novel, a social novel, he says.