What does it feel like to witness a coup d'état? What kind of subjective experience does the rupture in everyday life caused by a brutal dictatorship generate? When the military junta seized power in Argentina in March 1976, Alan Pauls was sixteen years old. Like many of his generation, the dictatorship led by Jorge Rafael Videla left an indelible mark on him – perhaps forever – by destroying any hope of continuity with the spectre of a brutal upheaval that divided history into a radical before and after.
About the author
Alan Pauls is a novelist, screenwriter, essayist and critic. Pauls studied literature at the University of Buenos Aires, where he later became a professor of literary theory. He has also been a visiting professor at Princeton University and taught creative writing at the University of Tres de Febrero [Buenos Aires] and New York University. He is the founder of the magazine Lecturas críticas and worked as an editor for the daily newspaper Página/12. His novel El pasado [2003; English: The Past, 2009] won the Spanish Herralde Literary Prize and was made into a film by Héctor Babenco. With Historia del llanto [2007; English: History of Tears, 2010], Historia del pelo [2010; English: History of Hair, 2012] and Historia del dinero [2013; English: "History of Money", 2016], he created a trilogy between 2007 and 2013 about the 1970s in Argentina and the history of the Argentine dictatorship. Pauls has been living and working in Berlin since 2019.
At a glance
When: 5 February 2026, 7:15 p.m.
Where: Senate Hall of Humboldt University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Programme and registration: The event will be held in English.