Reinaldo Arenas

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Elliot Madore as Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls, Florida Grand Opera

Reinaldo Arenas Fuentes (born July 16, 1943 in Holguín , Cuba , † December 7, 1990 in New York ) was a Cuban writer and dissident .

Life

After Reinaldo Arenas was initially enthusiastic about Fidel Castro's communist revolution , he was increasingly critical of the regime from the beginning of the 1970s. His debut novel from 1967, Celestino antes del alba , remained his only book published in Cuba, since then the author has been banned in his homeland. The pretext for this was the accusation of pornography , but the regime disliked the works mainly because of the nonconformist attitude they expressed. Arenas' novels El palacio de las blanquísimas mofadas and El mundo alucinante were smuggled out of Cuba and published abroad.

In addition, Arenas lived openly gay and thus came more and more into the crosshairs of the police and state security. In 1973 he was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison and a labor camp on a fabricated charge. He then lived on the street, made several suicide and escape attempts, lived for weeks hidden in a tree in a park in Havana, from there he turned to the international public, was arrested again, taken into solitary confinement by the state security, interrogated and severely bullied. Amnesty International stood up for him repeatedly .

In 1980 he managed to leave the country in the chaos of the mass exodus via the port of Mariel , when Fidel Castro had homosexuals emigrate to the USA, among others. After a stay in Miami , Arenas settled in New York City , where he processed his experiences of imprisonment and persecution in a literary and journalistic way, rewrote lost manuscripts or edited older works and prepared them for publication. At Princeton University , which today guards his literary estate, he taught Latin American literary history. He was more involved than ever against the dictatorship in his homeland. Already drawn from an HIV infection diagnosed in 1987 , he accepted an invitation from the TV presenter Bernard Pivot to appear in Paris on June 6, 1988 in the literary program Apostrophes .

In October 1988 he wrote an open letter to Fidel Castro, in which he asked him to follow the example of the Chilean dictator Pinochet and to face a plebiscite after thirty years of sole rule . Hundreds of Cubans on the island and in exile joined this Carta de Paris in a short time. The first to sign included six Nobel Prize winners and well over 100 other prominent artists and intellectuals from all over the world, including Saul Bellow, Joseph Brodsky, Jacques Derrida, José Donoso, Allen Ginsberg, Juan Goytisolo, Eugène Ionesco, Jacek Kuron, David Lynch, Louis Malle, Czeslaw Milosz, Yves Montand, Octavio Paz, Carlos Semprún, Philipe Solers and Susan Sontag. The signature of German intellectuals is not documented in the accompanying book.

Until last Arenas worked on his autobiographical novel Antes que anochezca ( Before Night Falls ), which translated into numerous languages and Julian Schnabel with the main actors Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp under the title Night Falls Before was filmed. In December 1990, Arenas committed suicide in the terminal stages of AIDS .

plant

The style of his work is diverse, influenced by both the neo-barroco José Lezama Limas and the work of his staunch literary adversary Virgilio Piñera (although the friendship between the two depicted in Before Night Falls is artistic fiction). Arenas is an important representative of postmodern literature . In addition to novels and short stories , he wrote poems , essays and plays . Many of his works appeared in Latin American countries as pirated prints under the misspelled author name Reynaldo Arenas, which deprived Arenas, who remained poor even in exile, with the income urgently needed for his medical treatment.

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While Reinaldo Arenas' work is part of the literary canon in France and Spain, the reception of his demanding works in Germany was long thwarted by the solidarity of many intellectuals with the Castro regime. In addition, it was not profitable enough for the major publishers, a reason that was all the more serious in the deregulated Berlin republic, as the author was dead and could not be presented in the media. His autobiography, on the other hand, asserts itself permanently on the market, as the film adaptation is broadcast regularly on public television.

Works

Novels

  • 1967 Celestino antes del alba (La Habana: Unión); 1982 new edition under the title Cantando en el pozo (Barcelona: Argos Vergara); 2000 new edition under the old title (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores ); 2002 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Fábula series )
  • 1969 El mundo alucinante. Una novela de aventura (México: Diógenes); 1997 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets); 2001 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Fábula series ); 2008 new edition (Madrid: Cátedra)
  • 1980 El palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas (Caracas: Monte Avila); 2001 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets); 2010 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Fábula series )
  • 1980 La vieja Rosa (Caracas: Cruz del Sur)
  • 1982 Otra vez el mar (Barcelona: Argos Vergara); 2002 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets)
  • 1984 Arturo, la estrella más brilliant (Barcelona: Montesinos)
  • 1987 La Loma del Angel (Miami: Mariel Press)
  • 1989 El portero (Málaga: Dador); 2004 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets); 2006 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Fábula series )
  • 1990 Viaje a La Habana. Novela en tres viajes (Madrid: Mondadori España)
  • 1991 El asalto (Miami: Ediciones Universal); 2003 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets)
  • 1991 El color del verano (Miami: Ediciones Universal); 1999 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets); 2010 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Fábula series )

stories

  • 1972 Con los ojos cerrados (Montevideo: Arca); 1981 expanded new edition under the title Termina el desfile (Barcelona: Seix Barral)
    • from it in German: How I marched in at home , trans. v. Karl August Horst u. Gert Loschütz. In: Peter Schultze-Kraft (Ed.): How I marched in at home. Cuban stories . Frankfurt a. M .: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 1973; and in other anthologies
    • The son and the mother , trans. v. Maria Bamberg. In: José Miguel Oviedo (Ed.): Latin America. Poems and stories 1930–1980 . Frankfurt a. M .: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag 1982
    • How I marched out at home , over. v. Heide Mahler-Knirsch. In: Ota Filip u. Egon Larsen (Ed.): The broken spring. Writers in exile , Stuttgart: Thienemanns Verlag 1984
    • With eyes closed , trans. v. Monika López. In: Wolfgang Eitel (Ed.): Das Lied des Feuers. Latin American reading book . Munich / Zurich: Piper 1988
    • In the shade of the tamarind , trans. v. Isabel Alcantara. In: Marco Alcántara (ed.): Cuentos hispanocamericanos: Cuba / Stories from Cuba (bilingual). Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2000, ISBN 978-3-423-09395-8
  • 1996 Adiós a mamá (Barcelona: Tusquets); 2006 new edition, also contains Termina el desfile (Barcelona: Tusquets)
    • from it in German (preprint): End of a story , trans. v. José Antonio Friedl Zapata. In: José Antonio Friedl Zapata (Ed.): A new name, a strange face. 26 new stories from Latin America . Darmstadt / Neuwied: Luchterhand 1987

Poetry collections

  • 1981 El central (Barcelona: Seix Barral)
  • 1989 Voluntad de vivir manifestándose (Madrid: Betania)
    • from it in German: I have two fatherlands and an obituary for myself , trans. v. Klaus Laabs. In: Thomas Brovot u. Peter B. Schumann (Ed.): The morning is the last escape. Cuban literature between the ages . Berlin: Edition diá 1995
  • 1990 Leprosorio (Madrid: Betania)

Essays

  • 1986 Necesidad de libertad. Mariel: testimonios de un intelectual disidente (México: Kosmos)
  • 1990 Un plebiscito a Fidel Castro , together with Jorge Camacho (Madrid: Betania)

theatre

  • 1986 Persecución. Cinco piezas de teatro experimental (Miami: Ediciones Universal)

Autobiographical novel

  • 1992 Antes que anochezca (Barcelona: Tusquets); 1996 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Fábula series ); 2010 new edition (Barcelona: Tusquets, in the Maxi series )
    • German: Before night falls, ad kub. Chip. v. Thomas Brovot et al. Klaus Laabs. Berlin: Edition diá 1993; Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2002


Filmed by Julian Schnabel , USA, in 2000 under the title Before Night Falls with Javier Bardem in the leading role and Johnny Depp in two supporting roles.

Partly as opera Cuba Libre by Cong Su set to music with libretto by Daniel Call .

Films about arenas

  • Mauvaise conduite. Direction: Néstor Almendros, Orlando Jiménez-Leal, Paris: Les films du Losange 1983.
  • Apostrophes. dir .: Bernard Pivot, Television française, June 6, 1984, Paris (available on the Internet archive), Paris 1984.
  • Arena: Havana. Director: Jana Bokova, London: BBC 1990.
  • Seres extravagant. Director: Manuel Zayas, Prod .: Malas compañía PCSL y Doce gatos SL Madrid (interviews with Reinaldo Arenas, Carlos Fuentes, Antón Arrufat, Tomás Fernández Robaina, Delfín Prats, Ingrid Gonzales, José Roberto Arenas, José Antonio Arenas, Oneida Fuentes), Madrid 2004.
  • Dos Patrias: Cuba y la noche. Director: Christian Liffers, www.dospatrias.com, 82 min, distributor: Profun, Cologne 2006 (interviews about gay life in Cuba with Tomás Fernández Robaina and others, each of whom reads a text by Arenas beforehand)

literature

  • José Lezama Lima: Para Reinaldo Arenas. In: ders .: Fragmentos a su imán. Editorial Lumen, Barcelona 1978, pp. 46-47.
  • Claude Fell: Un neobarroco del desequilibrio: El mundo alucinante de Reinaldo Arenas. In: XVII Congreso del Instituto Internacional de Literatura Iberoamericana. Volume I, Ediciones Cultura Hispánica del Centro Iberoamericano de Cooperación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 1978, pp. 725-731.
  • Flora María González Mandri: Reading and Writing: An Antithetical Mode of Interpretation in Borges, Donoso an Arenas. Phil. Diss. Yale University, 1982.
  • Enrico Mario Santí: Otra vez sobre el mar. In: Mariel. Revista de Arte y Literatura I (Miami, verano 1983). 2
  • Severo Sarduy: Escrito sobre Arenas. In: Revista de la Universidad de México. México 1985, 16
  • Ottmar Ette : Reinaldo Arenas. In: Critical lexicon for contemporary foreign language literature. Edition text + kritik, 11th subsequent delivery, Munich 1986.
  • Alicia Rodríguez: Literatura y sociedad: tres novelas de Reinaldo Arenas. Phil Diss. University of Florida, Gainesville 1987.
  • Francisco Soto: Reinaldo Arenas: Tradition and Singularity. Phil. Diss. New York University, 1988. (on Celestino antes del alba, El palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas, Otra vez el mar )
  • Roberto Varelo: Humor y desolación en la obra de Reinaldo Arenas. Phil. Diss., Georgetown University, Washington DC 1988.
  • Dolores M. Koch: Reinaldo Arenas. In: Carlos A. Solé, María I. Abreu (Eds.): Latin American Writers. Vol. III, Charles Scribner's Son, New York 1989.
  • Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink: La fascinación de la imprenta - On the perception of writing and reading books in the historical novels by Alejo Carpentier and Reinaldo Arenas. In: Birgit Scharlau (Ed.): Image - Word - Script. Contributions to the Latin America section of the Freiburg Romance Day. Günter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1989, pp. 56-69.
  • Julio E. Hernández, Perla Rozencvaig (ed.): Reinaldo Arenas: alucinaciones, fantasía y realidad. Scott, Foresman / Montesinos, Glenview, Ill. 1990. (with contributions by Oscar Fernández de la Vega, Elio Alba Bufill, Juan Goytisolo, Flora María González Mandri, Dolores M. Koch, Myron Lichtblau, Adriana Méndez Rodena, Esther P. Mocega González, Niva Montenegro, Carlos R. Narvárez, Jorge Olivares, Walter Rela, Enrico Mario Santí, Severo Sarduy, William L. Siemens, Elzbieta Sklodowska, Roberto Varelo)
  • Ottmar Ette (ed.): La escritura de la memoria. Reinaldo Arenas: Textos, estudios y documentación. Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-89354-953-6 . (with extensive bibliography)
  • Apuntes postmodernos / Postmodern Notes. Volume 6, Falls 1995, published by Verbum, Miami. Número monográfico dedicado a la lectura del texto de Reinaldo Arenas y su temática. (Topic number with contributions by Manuel Ramón de Zayas, Victor Fowler Calzada, Charles W. Scheel, Carlos Victoria, Francisco Soto, Andrew Hurley, Liliane Hasson, Klaus Laabs, Monika López, Rita Molinero)
  • Jaime Manrique: Maricones eminentes. Arenas, Lorca, Puig y yo. Editorial Síntesis, Madrid 2000, ISBN 84-7738-797-4 .
  • Julia Zarbach: Reinaldo Arenas. Aspects of the complete works and the reception in the German-speaking area. Dipl.-Arb., Univ. Vienna, 2007.
  • Néstor Almendros, Orlando Jiménez-Leal: Conducta impropia. editorial egales, Barcelona / Madrid 2008, ISBN 978-84-88052-67-4 . (with a foreword by Juan Goytisolo and a DVD with the film of the same name, see below)
  • Tomás Fernández Robaina: Misa para un ángel. Ediciones UNION, La Habana 2010. (Memories of an ex-lover of Arenas, whom Arenas thought was a spy)
  • Jutta Weiser: In chambers, clauses and prison cells. Hide out desires in Reinaldo Arenas' El mundo alucinante. In: Iberoromania. 71/72 (2011), pp. 40-56.
  • Helmut Lotz (Ed.): Reinaldo Arenas: A reading book with texts by Ottmar Ette [including an unpublished interview from 1985] and a bibliography. E-Book: Edition diá, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86034-594-8 (Epub), ISBN 978-3-86034-694-5 (Mobi)

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Arenas, Reinaldo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arenas Fuentes, Reinaldo (full name); Arenas, Reynaldo (alternative spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Holguín
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 1990
Place of death New York City