Kiss of the Spider Woman | Kiss of the Spider Woman: Overview
In the following review, Barbara P. Fulks outlines the theme of Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman, the polemical nature of sexuality and revolutionary politics. Fulk calls attention to Puig's "innovative" narrative techniques, as well as his uses of themes and techniques which call into question such wide-ranging issues as assumptions of gender identity, language, and psychoanalytic and Marxist theory.
Puig's fourth novel, published in Spain in 1976 and in English translation in 1979, deals with the polemical nature of the relationship between sexuality and revolutionary politics. The conflict between power and sex, and their functions in society, is embodied in the two protagonists, ValentÃn Arregui Paz and Luis Alberto Molina. The isolated setting of the novel, a prison cell, emphasizes the problem of language and communication between two individuals who experience different realities. Molina, a male homosexual who feels that he is a woman, colours his world with images of the...
[The entire page is 941 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Tell a friend about Kiss of the Spider Woman at eNotes.
