This is the first biography, now available in paperback, of Manuel Puig (1932-1990), Argentinian author of Kiss of the Spider Woman and pioneer of high camp. Suzanne Jill Levine, his principal English translator, draws upon years of friendship as well as copious research and interviews

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a graceful, intensely compelling novel about love and victimization. In an Argentine prison, two men share a cell: Molina, a gay window dresser who is self-centered, self-denigrating, yet charming as well; and Valentin, an articulate, fiercely dogmatic revolutionary haunted by memories of a woman he left for the cause. Both are gradually transformed by their guarded but growing friendship and by Molina’s obsession with the fantasy and romance of the movies.

Two prisoners, Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui, share a cell in a Buenos Aires prison. Molina is in jail for "corruption of a minor," while Valentin is a political prisoner who is part of a revolutionary group. The two men, opposites in every way, form an intimate bond in their cell, and their relationship changes both of them in profound ways.

A veteran film critic offers a lively, opinionated guide to thinking and talking about movies -- from Casablanca to Clueless Whether we are trying to impress a date after an art house film screening or discussing Oscar nominations among friends, we all need ways to look at and talk about movies. But with so much variety between an Alfred Hitchcock thriller and a Nora Ephron romantic comedy, how can everyday viewers determine what makes a good movie? In Talking Pictures, veteran film critic Ann Hornaday walks us through the production of a typical movie -- from script and casting to final sound edit -- and explains how to evaluate each piece of the process. How do we know if a film has been well-written, above and beyond snappy dialogue? What constitutes a great screen performance? What goes into praiseworthy cinematography, editing, and sound design? And what does a director really do? In a new epilogue, Hornaday addresses important questions of representation in film and the industry and how this can, and should, effect a movie-watching experience. Full of engaging anecdotes and interviews with actors and filmmakers, Talking Pictures will help us see movies in a whole new light-not just as fans, but as film critics in our own right.

Manuel Puig & The Spider Woman tells the life story of the innovative and flamboyant novelist and playwright himself. Suzanne Jill Levine, his principal English translator, draws upon years of friendship as well as copious research and interviews in her remarkable book, the first biography of the inimitable writer. Manuel Puig (1932-1990), Argentinian author of Kiss of the Spider Woman and pioneer of high camp, stands alone in the pantheon of contemporary Latin American literature. Strongly influenced by Hollywood films of the thirties and forties, his many-layered novels and plays integrate serious fiction and popular culture, mixing political and sexual themes with B-movie scenarios. When his first two novels were published in the late 1960s, they delighted the public but were dismissed as frivolous by the leftist intellectuals of the Boom; his third novel was banned by the Peronist government for irreverence. His influence was already felt, though-even by writers who had dismissed him-and by the time the film version of Kiss of the Spider Woman became a worldwide hit, he was a renowned literary figure. Puig's way of life was as unconventional as his fiction: he spoke of himself in the female form in Spanish, renamed his friends for his favorite movie stars, referred to his young male devotees as "daughters," and, as a perennial expatriate, lived (often with his mother) everywhere from Rome to Rio de Janeiro.

Manuel Puig's 1976 Kiss of the Spider Woman, translated into English in 1979 and adapted as an Academy Award-winning film, expanded the idiom of the novel (mixing cinema, fiction, romance, and song) and challenged the third-person narration that was dominant in Latin American Boom fiction. Students are drawn to the conversational style of the novel and the melodramatic seductions of the tale, but they need guidance to appreciate the novel's richness as a work of literature. This volume of the MLA's Approaches to Teaching series suggests ways instructors can help students grasp the novel's exploration of state and sexual politics and discern the strategies of narration that underlie the conversations between the two main characters. In part 1, "Materials," the editors discuss versions and translations of the novel, provide readings and resources, give an overview of the historical and political background of 1970s Argentina, and outline the author's biography. The thirteen essays in part 2, "Approaches," written by distinguished scholars of Latin American literature, offer close textual analysis, examine the author's use of cinematic references, and present suggestions for teaching Héctor Babenco's film adaptation alongside the written text.

Compiled together for the first time, here are three plays by Argentine novelist and playwright Manuel Puig, who died in 1990. The centerpiece of the volume is Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman, made into an acclaimed film starring William Hurt. Also included are the compelling works Under a Mantle of Stars and Mystery of the Rose Bouquet.