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. Later, 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. His career as a screenwriter never took off, however. In the 1960s he moved back to Buenos Aires, where he penned his first major novel, "La Traicion de Rita Hayworth". Possessing leftist political 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 these mediums, such as montage. He also made much use of low culture (for example, soap opera) in his works. In Latin American literary histories, he is presented as a writer that belongs to the Postboom and Postmodernism.
Puig lived in exile throughout most of his life. In 1989 Puig moved to Cuernavaca (Mexico), where he died in 1990. Maybe because of his homosexuality, it has been claimed that he died of AIDS, though this is a controversial assertion not universally accepted.
[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]
