The kiss of the spider woman (novel)

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The kiss of the spider woman (Spanish original title: El beso de la mujer araña ) is the most successful novel by the Argentine writer Manuel Puig ; it was published in 1976. The German translation was created by Anneliese Botond and was published by Suhrkamp in 1979.

In the novel, the homosexual or transsexual Molina and the Marxist revolutionary Valentín sit in a prison cell and Molina tells Valentín Arregui films, especially Hollywood films from the 1930s and 1940s. Molina falls in love with Valentín. Both men approach each other and the rigid gender roles dissolve. Molina is finally released, but then carries out an assignment for the resistance fighters of Valentín and is shot in the process. Valentín remains in prison, his end is unclear. In the last chapter, however, he is delirious under the consequences of torture. So his death is only a matter of time.

What is striking is the complete absence of a narrator, rather the novel consists only of spoken speech, streams of consciousness and, towards the end, police reports. Completely detached from the plot, there is a scientific treatise on the nature and causes of homosexuality in 9 footnotes. The narrator only emerges through the selection of the text pieces. As in the cinematic process of montage , he arranges and contrasts them.

Valentín and Molina communicate through the films, which in a sense represent an allegory of their own situation. Difficult love relationships are portrayed, the willingness of the loving woman to make sacrifices, the situation of oppression and imprisonment.

Adaptations

  • In 1983 Manuel Puig created a theatrical adaptation of his novel, which was premiered in 1985 in London's West End in English at the Bush Theater.