Kiss of the Spider Woman

In Manuel Puig’s 1978 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, Luis Alberto Molina, a window dresser, and Valentin Arregui Paz, a Marxist revolutionary, are roommates in a Buenos Aires prison from September to October 1975. Puig uses dialogue, prison reports, and stream-of-consciousness to tell the story, exploring themes of The Fluidity of Gender and Orientation, The Meaning and Value of Liberation, and The Power of Language. The novel is also notable for its use of footnotes as a literary device, as Puig glosses the narrative action—particularly as it pertains to gender and orientation—with references to both real and invented theorists. 

This guide refers to the 1991 Vintage International edition of the novel, translated by Thomas Colchie.

Language Note: There is ongoing debate as to whether to read Molina as a gay man or a trans woman who is attracted to men, as Molina claims both identities at various times (opening up further possibilities—e.g., of gender-fluidity). This guide will refer to Molina with she/her pronouns, as this best reflects the way Molina talks about herself, but this is not meant to flatten the ambiguities surrounding Puig’s depiction of Molina, which are thematically significant. 

Content Warning: The source material and study guide contain discussion of murder, torture, political persecution, anti-LGBTQ+ bias (including anti-gay slurs), racism, addiction, suicidal ideation, and child sexual abuse.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with two people in a Buenos Aires prison cell mid-conversation. Molina, serving eight years for the “corruption of minors” is animated and sociable (17), unlike Valentin, a political detainee, who is more reserved and spends his free time studying philosophy and preparing to rejoin his Marxist comrades when he is released. 

To pass the time and to fall asleep, Molina tells detailed and often embellished movie plots to Valentin as they lie side-by-side. The first movie is about a woman who fears turning into a panther when a man kisses her. Her situation grows more complicated when she becomes suspicious that her husband is having an affair with his assistant, and she ultimately turns into a panther at an appointment with her psychiatrist, brutally killing him. Valentin listens, interjecting to make comments, ask questions, and make critical remarks, which irritates Molina. 

Still, Molina continues to share movie plots that she remembers. The next is a piece of Nazi propaganda set in World War II France, but Molina loves its romantic plotline. While recounting this story, Molina becomes extremely sick with abdominal pain. She recovers, but soon afterward, Valentin develops similar symptoms. To cheer him up and distract him, Molina tells him about a movie centering on a young man who comes from a privileged upbringing but wishes to be involved with a revolutionary movement. While he is sick, Valentin begins to open up to Molina about his involvement in the movement and his feelings for Marta, an ex-girlfriend. The two also become physically closer as Molina cares for Valentin during his illness.

Molina visits the prison warden, and their conversation makes clear that she is spying on his behalf; in exchange for uncovering the secrets of Valentin’s political group’s movements, Molina can earn her release. The mysterious sickness that struck first Molina and then Valentin was food poisoning orchestrated by the warden to weaken Valentin’s defenses; however, Molina had to eat some of the tainted food to avoid suspicion. 

Molina returns to the cell, where she begins sharing the details of a zombie movie set on a Caribbean plantation at Valentin’s request for something supernatural. Her telling of the story spans several days, and she visits the warden again during this time; she claims she hasn’t learned anything but also suggests that Valentin might open up more if he believed she was being moved to another cell. Accordingly, she tells Valentin that she will be transferred in a week, preparatory to being released. Shortly after this, she reveals her feelings of self-hatred, and the two have sex.

The next morning, Valentin expresses no regret about the encounter, and Molina, too, is happy. She begins recounting a movie about an actress who is married to an abusive husband but in love with a reporter. Around this time, Molina begins to express ambivalence about being released. She wants to reunite with her mother, who has medical problems that require care, but she also doesn’t want to leave Valentin. 

In a phone call with an unspecified higher-up, the warden expresses doubts about Molina’s allegiances. However, he suggests that if Molina were released, the government could leak information that she is working as a spy. This would attract the attention of Valentin’s political organization and likely lead them to seek out Molina for reprisal, indirectly leading the government to the group. In the conversation between the warden and Molina that follows, Molina once again says she hasn’t learned anything regarding Valentin’s political group. Nevertheless, the warden informs her that she is being released. 

Molina returns to the cell, where she explains this and finishes describing the movie about the actress. Valentin asks if she would be willing to pass a message to his comrades. Though initially noncommittal, Molina agrees after they have sex again—and, specifically, after Valentin grants her request for a kiss.

When Molina is released on parole, the warden has her followed constantly. Those tailing her become suspicious that she is planning to contact Valentin’s group, so they cancel the plan to leak information to the press. Instead, they approach her to arrest her. As they do, there is a drive-by shooting, presumably orchestrated by Valentin’s group; Molina and one officer die, and the official report speculates that the group wanted to prevent Molina’s arrest, fearing what she would reveal under interrogation. 

Sometime after this, Valentin is tortured and interrogated. The novel picks up while a doctor is giving him morphine, and he drifts into a dreamlike state where he reconnects with his old girlfriend, Marta, and imagines Molina as the “spider woman.”