Contents
Manuel Puig
Writing Kiss of the Spider Woman and novels shaped by cinema, conversation and popular culture.
Betrayed by Rita Hayworth · Heartbreak Tango
- Born
- 28 December 1932
- Birthplace
- General Villegas, Argentina
- Died
- 22 July 1990
More people
Manuel Puig
Argentine writer whose fiction used letters, dialogue and borrowed media forms to explore desire, repression and everyday fantasy.
Early life
Small-town cinema
Visits to the cinema with his mother became a formative influence.
Education abroad
Studied in Buenos Aires and later pursued film training in Rome.
Career
- 1950s–1960s
Film work
Worked around cinema while gradually turning toward fiction.
- 1968–1970s
Novelistic success
Published internationally noticed novels and left Argentina amid political pressure.
- 1980s–1990
Writing abroad
Continued fiction and theatre while living outside Argentina.
Selected work
Betrayed by Rita Hayworth
A small-town world filtered through voices and cinematic dreams.
Heartbreak Tango
A story assembled through letters, diaries and other documents.
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Two prisoners build a relationship through stories and political differences.
Beyond work
Sexual freedom
Was openly gay and opposed the repression of sexual minorities.
Life in several countries
Lived in Mexico, the United States and Brazil as well as Argentina.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and references ↗Biography and contributions ↗Photo: Elisa Cabot. CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
