The Past
Alan Pauls, translated by Nick Caistor
2008, Vintage
474 pages
THIS PAPERBACK edition of Alan Pauls’ acclaimed sexual odyssey is welcome for bringing the work of this Argentine
writer to a wider audience. The winner of the 2003 Herralde Prize, The Past has now also been adapted for the cinema by director Héctor Babenco. Pauls’ interest in literary theory is much in evidence in writing that appears to hover above the very earthly vices it lays bare. The faultless and powerful translation confirms Nick Caistor – editor of the Faber Book of Contemporary Latin American Stories – as one of the foremost literary translators in the field. – EC
