Pubis Angelical

2000
Author:

Manuel Puig
Translated by Elena Brunet

A tale of intrigue and sexual entrapment.

In this artful fusion of espionage thriller and science fiction, Manuel Puig tells one story shared by three women living in very different times and places.

“The most richly textured and extravagant fiction Puig has produced so far…
Brilliantly inventive.”–New York Times

“Puig will now command attention from readers not previously familiar with his fiction.”–Library Journal

“This is Puig’s best work.”–Choice

It is his mastery of plot, counterplot, the characters’ scheming, his own, that lifts Puig into the circle of his peers (Borges and García Márquez).

Washington Post Book World

In this artful fusion of espionage thriller and science fiction, Manuel Puig tells one story shared by three women—an actress in the 1930s, living in her husband’s fairy-tale castle; a young woman in Mexico City in the 1970s, convalescing in a hospital; and a futuristic cyborg sex slave, occupying an artificial landscape. In the haunting and mysterious language for which he is renowned, Puig explores the links between these women, as well as the links between genders and generations.

Best known for his novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, which has been adapted as a movie and a Broadway musical, Manuel Puig (1932–1990) also wrote Blood of Requited Love and Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages (both published by the University of Minnesota Press, 1999), as well as Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, Heartbreak Tango, and The Buenos Aires Affair.

Best known for his novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, which has been adapted as a movie and a Broadway musical, Manuel Puig (1932–1990) also wrote Blood of Requited Love and Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages (both published by the University of Minnesota Press, 1999), as well as Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, Heartbreak Tango, and The Buenos Aires Affair.

It is his mastery of plot, counterplot, the characters’ scheming, his own, that lifts Puig into the circle of his peers (Borges and García Márquez).

Washington Post Book World

Manuel Puig is the brilliantly inventive Argentine novelist. Pubis Angelical is the most richly textured and extravagant fiction Puig has produced so far. Brilliantly inventive.

New York Times

Puig will now command attention from readers not previously familiar with his fiction.

Library Journal

Politics and sexuality are inseparable in Pubis Angelical. Ana’s fantasies speak of the political nightmares of exile, disappearance, torture and persecution, though as always in Puig’s novels, the horror is tempered by his crazy plots and kitsch stage plots.

The Nation

One is inclined to believe that this is Puig’s best work.

Choice

The most richly textured and extravagant fiction he has produced so far.

New York Times