Manuel Puig

Manuel Puig (General Villegas, December 28, 1932 - Cuernavaca, July 22, 1990) was an Argentinian author. Among his best known novels are La traici?n de Rita Hayworth (1968) (Betrayed by Rita Hayworth), Boquitas pintadas (1973) (Heartbreak Tango), and El beso de la mujer ara?a (1976) Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was made into a film by the Argentine-Brazilian Director, H?ctor Babenco and later turned into a Broadway musical.

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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 ara?a).

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El beso is the story of two prisoners, Molina and Valent?n, and their relationship in prison. Molina, an openly homosexual window-dresser, is in jail for "corruption of a minor," while Valent?n 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.

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Puig lived in exile throughout most of his life. In 1989 Puig moved to Cuernavaca (Mexico), where he died in 1990.

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General Villegas: General Villegas is a town in General Villegas Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina....

December 28: December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining....

1932: 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday....

Manuel Puig related Images and Photos (experimental)

Manuel Garcia	Juan Manuel de Rosas	Manuel De Amat Y Juniet	The Sculptor Manuel Tolsa
King Manuel Ii of Portugal Bidding Farewell to His Country 'Adeus Par Nunca Mais'	TRON Legacy Daft Punk Guy-Manuel Action Figure	Portrait of the Young Manuel Godoy	Anatomy of the Throat and Jaw from "Manuel D'Anatomie Descriptive Du Corps Humain"
Anatomy of the Throat and Jaw from "Manuel D'Anatomie Descriptive Du Corps Humain"	The Month of August Miniatures from 'Livro De Horas De Dom Manuel' 1517-38	Augusta Queen of Portugal Augusta Victoria Von Hohenzollern Wife of Manuel II