Long acclaimed by Latin American critics, the Argentine novelist Manuel Puig became best known in this country for his novel Kiss of the Spider Woman. While Puig s seven novels are available in translation, an immense body of criticism and many of his most important interviews remain inaccessible to the non-Spanish reader.
Written especially for the English-speaking audience, this study analyzes aspects of Puig s novels, summarizing the most important criticism in Spanish, and offers a biographical sketch of the man, making available for the first time in English selections from the most informative interviews. Readings of each of Puig s novels combined with Lavers s overview of the criticism in Spanish provide new insights into one of the most original and profound bodies of fiction of any current writer.