SOURCE: “The Reader and Manuel Puig: The Invention of Sangre de amor correspondido,” in Crítica Hispánica, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 1995, pp. 286-92.

In the following essay, Lewis studies the readers' role in Puig's Sangre de amor correspondido, and how their interaction with the text affects the novel's message.

Manuel Puig's literary task in his 1982 novel Sangre de amor correspondido is to create for his reader a testimonial voice in interpreting the fictional life of Josemar, Brazilian soccer player, electrician, breaker of young hearts and demonic corrupter. Puig has readily and repeatedly expressed a deference to his audience, a desire to keep the reader involved, interested, and in touch with his ingenious methods of narrative construction. The present attention given to reader-reception theory by such critics as Hans Robert Jauss, Wolfgang Iser, Gerald Prince, and others may be diverted to this text by Puig with the result that...