Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, 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.
Life
Arenas was born in the countryside, in the northern part of the Province of Oriente, Cuba, and later moved to the city of Holguín.
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. [1] 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).
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. (Colchie 2001)
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.
Anti-Revolutionary
His writings and openly gay lifestyle were, by 1967, bringing him into conflict with the Communist government.
Arenas' 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 the UNEAC, along with another manuscript of his entitled The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fran Servando. 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. [2]
In 1980, as part of the Mariel Boatlift, he fled to the United States. [3]
Writings
Despite his short life and the hardships imposed during his imprisonment, Arenas produced a significant body of work. His Pentagonia is a set of five novels that comprise a “secret history” of post revolutionary Cuba. It includes the poetical Farewell to the Sea, Palace of the White Skunks and the Rabelaisian Color of Summer. 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. His autobiography, Before Night Falls was on the New York Times list of the ten best books of the year in 1993. In 2000 this work was made into a film, directed by Julian Schnabel, in which Arenas was played by Javier Bardem.
Death
In 1987, Arenas was diagnosed with AIDS. 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. [4]
Notable Works
- El mundo alucinante (1966) ISBN 84-8310-775-9, OCLC 421023; English translation Hallucinations (2001 reissue) ISBN 0-14-200019-1
- Cantando en el pozo (1982) (originally published as Celestino antes del alba (1967)) English translation Singing from the Well (1987) ISBN 0-14-009444-X
- El palacio de las blanquisimas mofetas (1982) English translation The Palace of the White Skunks (1990) ISBN 0-14-009792-9
- Otra vez el mar (1982) English translation Farewell to the Sea (1987) ISBN 0-14-006636-5
- El color del verano (1982) English translation The Color of Summer (1990) ISBN 0-14-015719-0
- El Asalto (1990) English translation The Assault (1992) ISBN 0-14-015718-2
- El portero (1987) English translation The Doorman (1991) ISBN 0-8021-3405-X
- Antes que anochezca (1992) English translation Before Night Falls (1993) ISBN 0-14-015765-4
- Mona and Other Tales (2001) ISBN 0-375-72730-2 This is an English translation of a collection of short stories originally published in Spanish in Spain between 1995 and 2001
- Con los ojos cerrados (1972),
- La vieja Rosa (1980), English Translation Old Rosa (1995) ISBN 0-8021-3406-8
- El central (1981), ISBN 0-380-86934-9
- Termina el desfile (1981).
- Arturo, la estrella más brillante (1984),
- Cinco obras de teatro bajo el título Persecución (1986).
- Necesidad de libertad (1986)
- La Loma del Angel (1987), English Translation Graveyard of the Angels (1987) ISBN 0-380-75075-9
- Voluntad de vivir manifestándose (1989) ISBN 987-9396-55-3
- Viaje a La Habana (1990). ISBN 0-89729-544-7
- Final de un cuento (El Fantasma de la glorieta) (1991) ISBN 84-86842-38-7
- Adiós a mamá (1996) ISBN 0-89729-791-1
Critical Bibliography
- Cuba's political and sexual outlaw: Reinaldo Arenas / Ocasio, Rafael., 2003
- Reinaldo Arenas (Twayne World Authors Series) / Soto, Francisco., 1998
- Reinaldo Arenas: the Pentagonía / Soto, Francisco., 1994
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
[5]. There is a biography at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034297
See also
| Cuba Portal |
- LGBT rights in Cuba
External links
Credits
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