How he is | Writings by Manuel Puig, 1932-90
Manuel Puig, Under a Mantle of Stars, 1983 Manuel Puig, Heartbreak tango (Boquitas pintadas), 1969
”There are three little boy dolls, and the queen of france, her hair is done in an upsweep and her skirt is as full as can be, the three little boy dolls in white stockings all the way up to their bloomers, the girl dolls in silk costumes and the boy dolls in silk costumes too, mommy, and the men in white dickey’s same as you, tiny lacing, white wigs, they’re porcelain and stand on a shelf, of the mother of the boy next door, and they’re hard, you can’t eat them, dressed the same as the silly face dolls, they are kind and look at
the girl doll sitting in a hammock, painted on the cover of your box of spools, in the drawer next to the tablecloth and napkins, the box that had candy before.” *
”But Mita wants me to make her a bedspread for the baby’s crib, with bright colors since the bedrooms get so little light, three rooms one after the other leading into a hallway with big windows, all covered with canvas curtains that your can pull open.” *
”It doesn’t matter who he is, it matters how he is.” ^
“My obsession, heartbreak tango, plunged my soul to deepest sin, as the music of that tango set my poor heart all a-spin.” ~
“- But you have to reason it out then and convince yourself.
– Yes, but there are reasons of the heart that reason doesn’t encompass.” –
“The nicest thing about feeling happy is that you think you’ll never be unhappy again.” –
Manuel Puig, 1932-90
* Betrayed by Rita Hayworth, 1968 / ~ Heartbreak tango (Boquitas pintadas), 1969 /
– Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1976 / ^ Under a Mantle of Stars, 1985
Wong Kar-wai, Happy Together, 1997
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Manuel Puig’s books are often conveyed via dialogue, letters, newspaper articles, police reports, etc., giving them the appearance of experimental literature.
His works are also a big influence on Wang Kar-Wai’s films. Manuel Puig’s novel ”The Buenos Aires Affair” became, in Wong’s hands, ‘‘Happy Together’‘.
Recording interactions
”Manuel Puig, from whom I learnt to build a plot out of fragments”
“He changed my thinking about story lines,” “For example, the story in The Buenos Aires Affair is very simple, but nothing is in order. The altered order changes the significance. And you learn more because of this order. When people ask me what directors influenced my film-making most, I tell them I learned from many, but the person who’s been most influential is Puig.”
Wang Kar-wai
