Both Uses of
vortex
in
War and Peace
- Despite the indifference to the affairs of the world he had expressed to Pierre, he diligently followed all that went on, received many books, and to his surprise noticed that when he or his father had visitors from Petersburg, the very vortex of life, these people lagged behind himself—who never left the country—in knowledge of what was happening in home and foreign affairs.†
Chpt 6 *
- Amid the uncertainties of the position, with the menace of serious danger giving a peculiarly threatening character to everything, amid this vortex of intrigue, egotism, conflict of views and feelings, and the diversity of race among these people—this eighth and largest party of those preoccupied with personal interests imparted great confusion and obscurity to the common task.†
Chpt 9
Definition:
-
(vortex) the shape of something rotating rapidly -- such as a tornado
or: a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides)