Puig, Manuel (1932–1990)

Argentine novelist whose works owe much to the Hollywood cinema of the 1940s and 1950s. His book El beso de la mujer araña/Kiss of the Spider Woman 1976 was filmed 1985 and adapted as a musical 1992. Later novels such as La traición de Rita Hayworth/Betrayed by Rita Hayworth (1968) and Cae la Noche Tropical/Tropical Night Falling 1988 ironically demonstrate the extent to which modern life is shaped by the ‘trashier’ aspects of popular culture.