PUIG'S NARRATIVE STYLE

I have never read anything quite like Kiss of the Spider Woman; from the first sentence, I was immediately captivated. This pleasant reaction was a result of Manuel Puig's writing techniques.

Firstly, the heavy use of dialogue between Valentin and Molina sort of elminates a main narrator; there is a narrative authority to some extent, as discussed in class, with Molina's dialogue and the excerpts of the prisoner reports dispersed throughout. This choice in writing was refreshing to read because all sort of narrative expectations were thrown out the window and I could concentrate on what the two characters at hand were saying. In certain cases, It was like trying to solve a puzzle. For instance, in order to find out the setting, time and place these two characters lived in, I had to pay close attention to their dialogue as opposed to other books where one relies on the 1st or 3rd person narrator to explain such things. It read like a play or screenplay of sorts; I was glad too see such a method of writing could be translated this seamlessly for a novel.

I also was impressed by Puig's use of the films Molina tells Valentin as a vehicle to express their rawest feelings. Whether Molina is making up the films or reiterating a Hollywood film word for word is not important. As Michael Boccia states in his essay, "when Molina and Valentin embellish the films" they are really "revealing their human desires and needs." Molina and Valentin's love develops perhaps because they were able to get to know each other's most true selves through this artistic form of expression. There were no rules to telling these films, and Molina constructed them in order to reveal his most vulnerable feelings, which in turn, eventually allowed Valentin to do the same. Both these prisoners, literally trapped inside a cell, are able to at least be free metaphorically and discover their true selves through the powerful force of art.

Puig offers a very different and unique love story which is only enhanced by his inventive form of presentation.