Kiss of the Spider Woman

Manuel Puig · 1932–1990 · Argentina

Originally El beso de la mujer araña (Spanish) · translated by Thomas Colchie

Why it matters

A gay window-dresser and a Marxist revolutionary share a cell, where retold movies become an act of love. Puig builds the whole novel from dialogue and footnotes: the Boom's myth traded for tenderness and kitsch.

At a glance

Told almost entirely in unattributed dialogue and academic footnotes, with no conventional narration.