Manuel Puig
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Manuel Puig (General Villegas, December 28, 1932 - Cuernavaca, July 22, 1990) was an Argentinian author. Among his best known novels are La traición de Rita Hayworth (1968) (Betrayed by Rita Hayworth), Boquitas pintadas (1973) (Heartbreak Tango), and El beso de la mujer araña (1976) Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was made into a film by the Argentine-Brazilian Director, Héctor Babenco and in 1993 into a Broadway musical.
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[edit] Life
He was born in General Villegas (in Buenos Aires province). After graduating from Universidad de Buenos Aires with a degree in philosophy, he began working as a film archivist and editor in Buenos Aires, then in Italy as a result of winning a scholarship from the Italian Institute of Buenos Aires. Puig's dream was to become a screenwriter, to write TV shows and movies. This never took off. In the 1960s he moved back to Buenos Aires, where he penned his first major novel, "La Traicion de Rita Hayworth". Being of leftist tendencies, and seeing an oncoming rightist wave in Latin America, Puig moved to New York, where he wrote his later works (including El beso de la mujer araña).
Much of Puig's work can be seen as pop art. Perhaps due to his work in film and television, Puig managed to create a writing style that incorporated elements of film and television, such as montage. He also made much use of low culture in his works, soap opera for example.
El beso is the story of two prisoners, Molina and Valentín, and their relationship in prison. Molina, an effeminate and openly homosexual window-dresser, is in jail for "corruption of a minor," while Valentín is a political prisoner who is part of a revolutionary group trying to bring down the government. The two men, seemingly opposites in every way, form an intimate bond in their cell, and their relationship changes both of them in profound ways. The novel's form is unusual, considering that there is no traditional narrative voice, one of the primary features of fiction. It is written in pure dialogue form, without any indication of who is speaking, except for a dash (-) to show a change of speaker. Due to the absence of an "authoritative" narrator, the reader is required to participate more actively in the interpretation of the story and, therefore, becomes part of the telling of the tale. In addition to the conversations of the prisoners, there are other "artefacts" in the novel that help tell the story. For example, the author includes official reports as well as a long series of footnotes on the psychoanalytic theory of homosexuality.
Puig lived in exile throughout most of his life. In 1989 Puig moved to Cuernavaca (Mexico), where he died in 1990.
[edit] See also
[edit] Works
[edit] Novels
- La traición de Rita Hayworth [1968] (Betrayed by Rita Hayworth)
- Boquitas Pintadas [1973] (Heartbreak Tango)
- The Buenos Aires Affair [1973]
- El beso de la mujer araña [1976] (Kiss of the Spiderwoman)
- Pubis angelical [1979]
- Maldición eterna a quien lea estas páginas [1980] (Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages)
- Sangre de amor correspondido [1982] (Blood of Unrequited Love)
- Cae la noche tropical [1988] (Tropical Night Falling)
[edit] Plays and screenplays
- Bajo un manto de estrellas [1983] (Under a Mantle of Stars)
- El beso de la mujer araña [1983] (Kiss of the Spiderwoman)
- La cara del villano | Recuerdo de Tijuana [1985]
- Vivaldi: A Screenplay [1991] (in Review of Contemporary Fiction №3)
- El misterio del ramo de rosas [1997] (Mystery of the Rose Bouquet)
- La tajada; Gardel, uma lembranca [1997]
