Reinaldo Arenas

Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, essayist and playwright. Despite his early sympathy for Fidel Castro's Revolution against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, he grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government. Before and during his six years in exile from Cuba, he wrote and published many works, including books, essays, songs, plays and long stories. He was severely punished for smuggling his works out of Cuba, and was eventually forced to renounce his work by Castro's government, as it did not praise the regime — and, as such, was considered counterrevolutionary. Though he eventually committed suicide in 1990, he finally felt free from the Cuban government, and encouraged others to continue in their struggle for freedom.

Life

Early Years

Arenas does not know exactly where he was born, but he believes it was somewhere in the countryside, in the northern part of Oriente province, Cuba. Though his childhood was plagued with absolute poverty, it was also filled with a sense of mysticism and freedom. He was surrounded by trees, family, nature and an overarching sense of harmony.

When Arenas was six, he began attending school at Rural School 91 in Perronales County, where he would attend class for more than six hours a day. He also had to attend a literary evening once every weekend, where students would recite poems from memory. This was the most literary time of his life, though he lacked any formal teaching. The most contact he had with literature was his grandmother's storytelling and the songs he would sing to himself in the woods. His mother taught him how to write by writing out long sentences that Arenas would trace over.

Arenas' early years were characterized by curiosity, spirituality, eroticism, creativity and imagination. He was close to nature and, thus, close to sexuality. Homosexuality was normative and nature and violence came hand-in-hand.

Early Politics

In 1952, Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship had become repressive both politically and morally. It was characterized by oppression and the economy deteriorated. There was no work and Arenas' grandfather was forced to sell his farm and move to the town of Holguín. Arenas regarded this town as boring, commercial, flat, unmysterious and lacking in personality. He shared a two bedroom home with 10 people, and would work a 12 hour day for one peso. On payday, he would go to the movies, in order to let his imagination roam and escape the the dead town of Holguín. By 1957, terror had become commonplace and he would hear shootings daily. Conditions became more and more unbearable and, around 1958, there was no food or electricity. When Arenas was 14, he felt it was his duty to join the guerillas in the mountains — it seemed as though there was no other solution.

Though he never took place in any battle, or even witnessed one, the injustices he began to witness made him question the goodwill of the rebels he had joined. Before Fidel Castro even rose to power over Batista, there were executions of those who were considered traitors of Castro. And, on December 31, 1958, Batista fled the country and Castro rose to power — his revolutionary government began in 1959.

Communism

When Arenas was 16, he was awarded a scholarship at La Pantoja, the Batista military camp that had been converted into a polytechnic institute. He would later graduate as an argricultural accountant, in a new program the government had created to secretly confiscate all land. As such, Arenas describes it as a sort of center for training young communists. In order to graduate, he had to climb the Sierra Maestra mountains six times. Upon completion, he was told that he was not simply a student, but the vanguard of the Revolution, as well; and, therefore, communist youth and soldiers of the army. These youth would control the economy of the country, and, as agricultural accountants, would be in charge of the accounting and administration of other people's land (which would later become the land of the State).

The State began to control everything. For instance, there was freedom to praise the Castro regime, but not freedom to criticize it. Homosexuality was severely punished by expulsion and even jail. Those who were discovered to be homosexuals were often stoned, beat up, and barred admission to any state school. Thus, Arenas was continually attempting to hide his sexual orientation. Though many were aware that they were being indoctrined, they did still hid who they were and did not protest what they disapproved of, especially since the army provided them with free food and education. Moreover, there was a feeling of enchantment and many wanted to believe that the Revolution was both noble and beautiful. Nonetheless, a new kind of repression arose, and these young communists were to teach Castro's new ideology to others.

Later, Arenas was accepted into a planning course for agricultural accountants at the University of Havana, where he took courses in mathematics, trigonometry, political economy and planning. During this time, he worked as an accountant for the INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Reform) to pay for his classes, though there was still not enough money to eat two full meals a day.

In 1963, he moved to Havana to enroll in the School of Planification and, later, in the Faculty of Letters at the Universidad de La Habana, where he studied philosophy and literature without completing a degree.

The following year, he began working at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí. While there, his talent was noticed and he was awarded prizes at Cirilo Villaverde National Competition held by UNEAC (National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists).

Counterrevolutionary

Arenas' writings and openly gay lifestyle were, by 1967, bringing him into conflict with the Communist government. His only novel published in Cuba, Celestino Antes del Alba (Singing from the Well) (1967), was considered disrespectful for not praising Batista's regime. The book was smuggled out of the country and published without prior authorization from UNEAC, along with another manuscript of his entitled The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fran Servando. Thus, Arenas was placed under surveillance and questioned by State Security.

In 1973, he was sent to prison after being charged and convicted of 'ideological deviation' and for publishing abroad without official consent. He escaped from prison and tried to leave Cuba by launching himself from the shore on a tire inner tube. The attempt failed and he was re-arrested near Lenin Park and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. He survived by helping the inmates to write letters to wives and lovers. He was able to collect enough paper this way to continue his writing. However, his attempts to smuggle his work out of prison were discovered and he was severely punished. Threatened with death he was forced to renounce his work and was released in 1976. In 1980, as part of the Mariel Boatlift, he fled to the United States.

Writings

Despite his short life and the hardships imposed during his imprisonment, Arenas produced a significant body of work. His Pentagonía is a set of five novels that comprise a “secret history” of post revolutionary Cuba, which was never completed. As such, not fully completing this project was one of his main regrets upon his death. It includes the poetical Farewell to the Sea, Palace of the White Skunks, Singing from the Well, The Color of Summer and The Assault. In these novels Arenas’ style ranges from a stark realist narrative to absurd satiric humor. He traces his own life story in what to him is the absurd world of Castro’s Cuba. In each of the novels Arenas himself is a major character, going by a number of pseudonyms.

Interestingly, his Hallucinations was awarded “first Honorable Mention” in 1966 although, as the judges could find no better entry, no First Prize was awarded that year. He left the Biblioteca Nacional and became an editor for the Cuban Book Institute until 1968. From 1968 to 1974 he was a journalist and editor for the literary magazine La Gaceta de Cuba.

His autobiography, Before Night Falls was on the New York Times list of the ten best books of the year in 1993. Arenas began writing the story of his life while he was a fugitive living in a park. He would have to write as much as possible before dark, since he had no light to write by; hence, the title Before Night Falls. However, his manuscript was lost multiple times and, while he was in the hospital, he dictated the story of his life because he was too ill to type. In 2000 this work was made into a film, directed by Julian Schnabel, in which Arenas was played by Javier Bardem.

Death

Despite multiple attempts to commit suicide while in Cuba, Arenas was diagnosed with AIDS in the winter of 1987. After battling the illness, Arenas overdosed from drugs and alcohol in 1990 in New York. In a suicide letter written for publication, Arenas wrote:

Due to my delicate state of health and to the terrible emotional depression it causes me not to be able to continue writing and struggling for the freedom of Cuba, I am ending my life...I want to encourage the Cuban people out of the country as well as on the Island to continue fighting for freedom. I do not want to convey to you a message of defeat but of continued struggle and of hope. Cuba will be free. I already am.

Legacy

Through Arenas' honest and campy style, he manages to fight for the rights of indiviuals, regardless of things such as their sexual orientation. His influence is not simply literary, it is policical as well.

Selected Bibliography

• The Assault (1992) ISBN 0-14-015718-2.
• Before Night Falls (1993) ISBN 0-14-015765-4.
• The Color of Summer (1990) ISBN 0-14-015719-0.
• The Doorman (1991) ISBN 0-8021-3405-X .
• Farewell to the Sea (1987) ISBN 0-14-006636-5.
• Graveyard of the Angels (1987) ISBN 0-380-75075-9.
• Hallucinations (2001 reissue) ISBN 0-14-200019-1.
• Mona and Other Tales (2001) ISBN 0-375-72730-2.
• Old Rosa (1995) ISBN 0-8021-3406-8.
• The Palace of the White Skunks (1990) ISBN 0-14-009792-9.
• Singing from the Well (1987) ISBN 0-14-009444-X.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Arenas, Reinaldo. Before Night Falls: A Memoir. Trans. Dolores M. Koch. New York: Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0140157654.
• Ocasio, Rafael. Cuba's Political and Sexual Outlaw: Reinaldo Arenas. Gainesville: University of Florida, 2003. ISBN 9780813026725.
• Soto, Francisco. Reinaldo Arenas. Twayne's World Authors Series. New York: Twayne, 1998. ISBN 9780805745542.

External links

• Reinaldo Arenas (1943 - 1990) - Find a Grave Memorial. www.findagrave.com. Retrieved July 3, 2007.

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