The Trauma of Absence in Bernardo Kucinski's K: A talk with Harris Distinguished Visiting Professor Susanne Zepp-Zwirner

Susanne Zepp-Zwirner, Harris Distinguished Visiting Professor and professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, will deliver a talk titled, Disappearing Under Dictatorship: The Trauma of Absence in Bernardo Kucinski's K.

Bernardo Kucinski's novel K tells the story of a father's search for his missing daughter during Brazil's military dictatorship. Drawing on his own family history as refugees from Poland in the 1930s, Kucinski weaves together personal loss, political violence, and memories of migration from Warsaw to São Paulo. Through shifting perspectives and rich storytelling, mobilizing both Yiddish literary heritage and Brazilian realities, the novel explores how families endure trauma across generations- and how literature can give voice to histories too often silenced. K stands as a compelling exploration of memory, guilt, and the search for meaning in the wake of state-sponsored violence.