《蜘蛛女之吻》是普伊格的第四部小说,这无疑是他的小说中影响最大的一部。在1976年发表后,几次再版,被译成多种文字,并改编成电影。
　　　　在阿根廷首都布宜诺斯艾利斯监狱的一间牢房里关押着两个囚犯,一个是政治犯瓦伦丁,另一个是同性恋者莫利纳。小说以他们两个人的对话为主线索,逐步展现出他们的内心世界,拨动了埋藏在他们意识深处的心弦,从一个侧面剖露了阿根廷社会的现实。作者以主人公叙述电影故事的方法,一方面揭示了力图改变社会的革命者的复杂的内心世界,另一方面又从社会、心理和生理诸方面多层次地剖析了同性恋这个日益引起人们重视的社会问题。
　　　　对于同性恋的产生与存在,作者以严肃的态度进行了具体的分析。他采用新颖的表现手法,颇具匠心地将许多艺术技巧巧妙地糅合在一起,精心构筑了小说的结构,一部部异彩纷呈的电影故事,与小说正文相互呼应的理论柱石,穿插在对话当中的意识流,还有简洁明快的行书公文,让人读起来兴味盎然,余丝不断,真可谓集严肃文学与通俗小说于一身,既有引人入胜的故事情节,又有对社会学和性心理学等问题的深刻探求, 还有耐人琢磨的文学魅力。这种将文学性、趣味性、社会性、科学性融合在一起的特点是这部小说取得成功的主要原因。
　　　　这部小说中运用得最为突出的手法就是在两个人的对话中叙述电影故事。深谙电影艺术的普伊格巧妙地将六部电影的情节贯穿于整部小说的始末。这些电影故事的构思巧妙,安排得当。每部电影虽然都独立成篇,却有着共同的深邃的内涵,即从不同的角度隐喻同性恋的不同的表现方式及其心理特征。作者采用蒙太奇的手法,将电影与电影,电影与两个囚犯的现实生活剪切对比、明叙暗喻,像多棱镜一般折射出一幅幅既有情趣又耐人思索的画面。

　　Kiss of the Spider Woman (Spanish: El beso de la mujer araña) is a novel by the Argentine writer Manuel Puig. It is considered his most successful. The novel's form is unusual in that there is no traditional narrative voice, one of the primary features of fiction. It is written in large part as dialogue, without any indication of who is speaking, except for a dash (-) to show a change of speaker. There are also parts of stream of consciousness. What is not written as dialogue or stream of consciousness is written as metafictional government documentation. The conversations that the characters engage in, when not focused on the moment at hand are focused on films that Molina has seen, which act as a form of escape from their environment. Thus we have a main plot, all of the subplots that are involved in that, and four additional mini stories that comprise the novel. The author includes a long series of footnotes on the psychoanalytic theory of homosexuality. These act largely as a mini representation of Puig's political intention in bringing an objective opinion of homosexuality. The footnotes end up including both factual information with that of the fictional Anelli Taub. The footnotes tend to appear at points of the greatest misunderstanding between both Molina and Valentin.
　　
　　The novel can be read as an indictment of a disengaged aesthetic perspective in the context of a world where people have to take sides. Valentin, the Marxist protagonist, has risked his life and willingly endured torture for a political cause and his example helps transform his cell-mate into a citizen, someone who will enter the world. Likewise, the other protagonist, Molina's love of aesthetics and cultural life teaches Valentin that escapism can have a powerfully utopian purpose in life; escapism has the potential to be just as subversive and meaningful as actual political activity.
　　
　　The novel was adapted into a stage play by Puig in 1983 (English translation by Allan Baker). It was also made into a film (1985) and a Broadway musical (1993).