Pedro Almodovar's Literary Roots

This wonderful article by Natasha Wimmer about the Argentine novelist Manuel Puig (Kiss of the Spider Woman) incidentally makes it clear that Pedro Almodovar is coming out of a Hispanic literary and artistic tradition -- "cursi" -- that many of us know nothing about. This is truly illuminating.

Cursi is possibly my favorite word in Spanish, and one of the most difficult to translate. Depending on the context, it might mean sentimental or prissy or precious or affected. It is the polar opposite of macho, which is the more familiar strain (at least abroad) of Spanish and Latin American culture. And yet cursi has a substantial history in Spanish-language fiction and poetry.

http://www.thenation.com/article/160078/cursi-affair-manuel-puig