Reinaldo Arenas
Biography
Reinaldo Arenas was born in 1943 in Holguin, Cuba. As a young man, he allied himself with the Castro revolution against Batista. However, he turned against them, as a result of their repression and, in particular, because of their anti-homosexual stance. He was, in turn, persecuted by the Castro government and accused of sexual deviation. He was imprisoned and tortured. He managed to escape Cuba in 1980 in the Mariel boatlift and went to New York. He continued to write poetry and novels till he killed himself in 1990 after a three year battle with AIDS.
Other Links
Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas
Before Night Falls (review of the film but a lot about Arenas)
Reinaldo Arenas or gay hedonism in Cuba (review of the film Before Night Falls but a lot about Arenas)
The defiant one
After Night Falls The Revival of Reinaldo Arenas
Jaime Manrique on Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas: The Sexual Politics of a Queer Activist
Reinaldo Arenas (in Spanish)
Reinaldo Arenas (in Spanish)
La breve vida infeliz de Reynaldo Arenas (by Cabrera Infante – in Spanish)
Aproximación crítica a Termina el desfile de Reinaldo Arenas (about Arenas as well as about the book – in Spanish)
Bibliography
1966 El mundo alucinante (UK: Hallucinations; US: Hallucinations or The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando)
1967 Celestino antes del alba (republished as Cantando en el pozo) (Singing from the Well)
1972 Con los ojos cerrados
1975 El palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas (The Palace of the White Skunks) (first published in French translation; first published in Spanish in 1983)
1981 El Central (El Central : A Cuban Sugar Mill)
1980 La Vieja Rosa (Old Rosa)
1981 Termina el desfile
1982 Otra vez el mar (Farewell to the Sea)
1984 Arturo, la estrella más brillante (The Brightest Star)
1986 Necesidad de libertad
1986 Persecución (cinco piezas de teatro experimental)
1987 La loma del angel (Graveyard of the Angels)
1989 Voluntad de vivir manifestándose
1990 El asalto (The Assault)
1990 Leprosorio (Trilogía poética)
1990 El portero (The Doorman)
1990 Viaje a La Habana
1991 El color del verano o nuevo jardín de las delicias (The Color of Summer or The New Garden of Earthly Delights)
1991 Final de un cuento
1992 Antes que anochezca
1996 Adiós a mamá : de La Habana a Nueva York
2001 Necesidad de libertad
2001 Mona and Other Tales (Selections of Short Stories)