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Abstract
This study analyzes three texts by Argentine writer Alan Pauls (b. 1959): the novel El coloquio (1990) and two short-stories, El caso Berciani (1992) and El caso Malarma (2005). All these narratives relate to the genre of detective and mystery fiction by parody and distortion. Pauls explores the relation between order and abjection. In so doing, his fictions become a critique of totalitarian structures and a thorough reflection on the failure of modernization. This thesis explores how these stories use detective fiction to elaborate on authority and violence, knowledge and interpretation, urban dystopias and social tensions.