Kiss of the Spider Woman (novel)

For other uses, see Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Author	Manuel Puig
Original title	El beso de la mujer araña
Language	Spanish
Genre	Novel
Publication date	1976
Publication place	Argentina
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Kiss of the Spider Woman (Spanish: El beso de la mujer araña) is a novel by the Argentine writer Manuel Puig. The novel's form is unusual in that there is no traditional narrative voice, one of the primary features of fiction. It is written in large part as dialogue, without any indication of who is speaking, except for a dash (-) to show a change of speaker. There are also parts of stream of consciousness. What is not written as dialogue or stream of consciousness is written as metafictional government documentation. The conversations that the characters engage in, when not focused on the moment at hand are focused on films that Molina has seen, which act as a form of escape from their environment. Thus we have a main plot, all of the subplots that are involved in that, and four additional mini stories that comprise the novel. The author includes a long series of footnotes on the psychoanalytic theory of homosexuality. These act largely as a mini representation of Puig's political intention in bringing an objective opinion of homosexuality. The footnotes end up including both factual information with that of the fictional Anelli Taub. The footnotes tend to appear at points of the greatest misunderstanding between both Molina and Valentin.

The novel can be read as an indictment of a disengaged aesthetic perspective in the context of a world where people have to take sides. Valentin, the Marxist protagonist, has risked his life and willingly endured torture for a political cause and his example helps transform his cell-mate into a citizen, someone who will enter the world. Likewise, the other protagonist, Molina's love of aesthetics and cultural life teaches Valentin that escapism can have a powerfully utopian purpose in life; escapism has the potential to be just as subversive and meaningful as actual political activity.

The novel was adapted into a stage play by Puig in 1983 (English translation by Allan Baker). It was also made into a film (1985) and a Broadway musical (1993).

Historical Background

Puig started Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1974 starting with Molina, who was an experiment in imagining a romantic female. From there the rest of the notes sprouted into the novel. At first the only country that would publish the article was Spain.

Plot

Two prisoners, Luis Molina and Valentín Arregui, share a cell in a Buenos Aires 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 dethrone 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 features four sub plots told in the narration in addition to the overarching situation that the two protagonists find themselves in. This is done through a series of recounting narrations by Molina. Toward the middle of the novel the reader finds out that Molina is actually a spy that is sent to Valentin's jail to befriend him and try and extract information about his organization. Molina dies in a shootout between the police and Valentin's group, who he has agreed to bring information from Valentin to. In the end of the novel we are left in Valentin's stream of consciousness after he has been given an anesthetic by a doctor following a brutal torture.

Sub Plot 1

The first story is based on a movie that Molina recounts and opens the novel with. It is based on film called Cat People (1942 film). During the this narration the reader finds out that Valentin sympathizes with the heroine because of his long lost love, Marta.

Sub Plot 2

The second story that is recounted by Molina is based on a Nazi propaganda film. Unlike the first subplot, it is unclear whether or not this is an actual movie. Molina tells a long story of an old Nazi film, a French woman falls in love with a noble Aryan officer and then dies in his arms after being shot by the French resistance. The film is a clear piece of Nazi propaganda, but Molina's inability to see past its superficial charms is a symptom of his alienation from society, or at least his choice to disengage from the world that has rejected him.

Sub Plot 3

The third story is a horror story concerning a rich man who marries a woman and brings her to his island. On the island she finds out that a witch doctor has the ability to turn people into zombies. As it progresses we find out that her husband's original wife was seduced by the witch doctor and turned into a zombie. In the end she sails away from the island.

Sub Plot 4

The fourth story is a recounting of a love story in which a newspaper man falls in love with the wife of a Mafia boss. Love struck, he stops his newspaper from running a potentially damaging story about the woman. They run away together, but can find no work. She prostitutes herself when he becomes too ill. Valentin is forced to finish the story despite Molina recounting it. In the end the man dies and the woman ends up sailing away. The way that Valentin chooses to have the story end is very similar to what happens to him in the end.

Characters

• Molina- One of the protagonists and the prime story teller. He is a gay window dresser put into prison for having "sex with a minor".
• Valentin- The other protagonist, and main implied listener. He is a revolutionary who is put into prison for belonging to a leftist organization that is trying to overthrow the government.
• The Warden- The warden is one of the antagonists in the novel. He sets up Molina to spy and retrieve information from Valentin and gets regular reports about it.
• Gabriel- The waiter that Molina befriends and acts as Molina's main love interest throughout the novel.
• Marta- Marta is the love interest of Valentin that he lost in order to remain serious about his organization. She only appears in memories and streams of consciousness in the novel, but never physically.

Major Themes

• Homosexuality
• Psychology
• Film
• Love
• Communism
• Argentinean Political History of the 70's
• Escapism

References

Levine, Suzanne Jill. Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2000.

Tittler, Jonathan. Manuel Puig. Twayne Publishers. 1993.