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Antes que anochezca by Reinaldo Arenas
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Antes que anochezca (original 1992; edition 1996)

by Reinaldo Arenas

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1,1021818,163 (4.09)39
"The acclaimed memoir of a homosexual Cuban author chronicling his tumultuous yet luminary life, from his impoverished upbringing in Cuba to his imprisonment at the hands of a Communist regime, now a part of the Penguin Vitae series, with a foreword by Colombian author Jaime Manrique. The astonishing memoir by visionary Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas "is a book above all about being free," said The New York Review of Books--sexually, politically, artistically. Arenas recounts a stunning odyssey from his poverty-stricken childhood in rural Cuba and his adolescence as a rebel fighting for Castro, through his suppression as a writer, imprisonment as a homosexual, his flight from Cuba via the Mariel boat lift, and his subsequent life and the events leading to his death in New York. In what The Miami Herald calls his "deathbed ode to eroticism," Arenas breaks through the code of secrecy and silence that protects the privileged in a state where homosexuality is a political crime. Recorded in simple, straightforward prose, Before Night Falls is the true story of the Kafkaesque life and world re-created in the author's acclaimed novels"--… (more)
Member:alinesalazar
Title:Antes que anochezca
Authors:Reinaldo Arenas
Info:TusQuets (1996), Paperback, 150 pages
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Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas (1992)

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» See also 39 mentions

English (13)  Spanish (2)  Italian (1)  German (1)  French (1)  All languages (18)
Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)
First of all, I'm glad to have read this. However, it was a very challenging book for me to get through. Arenas, who was a gay writer in Cuba during the Batista and then Castro regimes and a survivor of an impoverished youth, writes about his experiences very candidly. His descriptions of his childhood were often disturbing. The numerous anecdotes of his sexual encounters bored me to death. In addition, these descriptions were sometimes peppered with braggadocio, and an almost machismo tone, which didn't help.
However, it's important to remember that this was someone who grew up in impoverished conditions and was continually oppressed. In his own words, "I had never been allowed to be a real human being in the fullest sense of the word." With that in mind, it becomes understandable that he would focus on what brought him the most joy in life, his sexual encounters, as well as relationship with literature and the sea. In fact, when you look closer at this book, you become aware of the lyrical and melancholic tones that Arenas is evoking, and those moments become quite poignant. Overall, he seems to have had an unfulfilled and tragic life.
I would recommend this book to those who want to learn more about Arenas as a writer and to those who would like to know more about gay culture in Cuba during this time, especially in the literary world. Just know going in that his was not a happy life, nor a full one, and be mindful of the context of his situation as you read. ( )
  psalva | Apr 26, 2022 |
Really astounding. ( )
  k6gst | Mar 25, 2022 |
Sex was alive and well in Cuba according to the memoir of Reinaldo Arenas. But so was totalitarianism, homophobia, torture, betrayal, and poverty. Despite those things there are also friends, community, and a love of poetry and literature. No matter what happened to him Arenas kept writing--hiding his manuscripts in his roof and smuggling them out of Cuba to be published abroad.

His story is a triumph but his end tragic--he died in New York in 1990 by his own hand after suffering from AIDS. His goodbye note though,
left some hope, "I want to encourage the Cuban people out 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."

After reading this book, I have added his work to my wishlist.

"I will tell my truth like a Jew who has suffered from racism, a Russian who has been in the Gulag, or any human being who has eyes to see things as they are: I cry out: therefore I am."
--Reinaldo Arenas ( )
  auldhouse | Sep 30, 2021 |
Not for everyone. I am not even sure it was "for me". But I do believe it's an important book.

Published in 1993, this is the memoir of a Cuban writer who managed to make it out of Cuba after living through Batista's and then Castro's regimes. Life under Castro, for writers and for gays (Arenas was both) was no walk in the park. Work could only be obtained through approved channels, and Arenas's writing, which was smuggled out of Cuba and published abroad, made him a target. He lived through deep poverty, survived several years in prison, endured torture, and kept writing. More than once he had to rewrite manuscripts that were confiscated or stolen (something I can't really imagine doing) because he had no way of making copies.

A large part of his life, besides the writing, was having sex. He estimated that he had sex with over 1000 men. He made the distinction between "love" and "sex", understanding that what he had was sex, always different, always exciting to him. He recounts many of these escapades in this memoir, so that many pages are devoted to sexual encounters. No, they aren't spelled out in detail, but the sheer volume is enough to make one gasp. Me, anyway.

In some ways the memoir seems choppy. Although the chapters follow a logical progression, he often tells stories of one incident after another without any particular thread holding them together or any particular point to the incident. Just a sense of "this happened" and "then this happened." At times I wondered what was the point of mentioning some things. In other ways he leaves a lot out. For example, he tells us a brief bio of a woman and then says he married her for convenience. When he somehow leaves her behind we are not told how it happened or when. She is simply no longer there. I wonder if an editor might have helped here.

Regardless, the story is revealing, both of Arenas and of Castro's Cuba, a view we probably do not get often enough. ( )
  slojudy | Sep 8, 2020 |

Ma dopo vent'anni di repressione, come avrei potuto stare zitto davanti a quei crimini? E inoltre non mi sono mai considerato né di sinistra né di destra, né voglio essere catalogato sotto qualunque etichetta di opportunismo politico. Io racconto la mia verità, come un ebreo che abbia sofferto il razzismo o un russo che sia stato in un gulag, come qualunque essere umano che abbia avuto gli occhi per vedere le cose come sono.

Libro che mi instilla vari dubbi.
Dal punto di vista storico-politico è sicuramente un libro importante, anche se la credibilità viene minata da fanfaronate ed esagerazioni sulla sua vita privata (4000 amanti fino a 24 anni), brani e aneddoti molto numerosi che sembrano vanterie da adolescente, con descrizioni di amplessi fisiologicamente e acrobaticamente impossibili e che alla lunga potrebbero far venire dei dubbi sulla veridicità di alcune vicende raccontate anche se non riguardanti la vita privata dell'autore.
In una biografia, e in un uomo, tutto partecipa a stabilirne la credibilità e queste parti sono importanti per capire l'uomo in questione.
Nulla importa che siano storie omosessuali. Sarebbe lo stesso se fossero eterosessuali.
Le esagerazioni di stampo machista quindi possono influire sulla percezione della verità.

Strano anche che non venga mai nominato Ernesto Guevara, uno dei protagonisti della rivoluzione cubana. Mai citato in questo libro. Uomo simbolo, forse più di Castro per chi vive all'estero, in tutto il mondo quando si parla di rivoluzionari che hanno cambiato la storia.
Ciò non toglie, però, che le storie raccontate da Ameras siano un bel pugno nello stomaco, che descrivono una realtà piuttosto plausibile e simile a quella raccontata da altri scrittori su altre dittature. Insomma, mi viene da pensare che la parte storico-politica sia vera anche se non ho mai sentito Gianni Minà raccontare storie del genere, ma lui era amico di Fidel (un uomo buono, dice lui) e viveva una realtà falsata da quello che il regime voleva far vedere all'estero e quindi dubito fortemente della sua obiettività.
Pensando a Minà mi viene da riflettere rileggendo questo passo:

Scoprii un animale inesistente a Cuba: il comunista di lusso. Ricordo che durante un banchetto all'Università di Harvard un professore tedesco mi disse: «Posso capire che tu abbia sofferto nel tuo paese, ma io sono un grande ammiratore di Fidel Castro e apprezzo quel che ha fatto a Cuba». In quel momento il professore aveva un enorme piatto di cibo davanti e io gli dissi: «Mi sembra bello che lei ammiri Fidel Castro, ma allora non può finire il piatto che ha davanti, perché nessuna delle persone che vivono a Cuba, salvo gli alti funzionari, può mangiare roba simile». Presi il piatto e lo lanciai contro il muro.

Per lui non sono molto diversi dai fascisti:
I miei incontri con questa sinistra godereccia e fascista furono abbastanza polemici.

Il governo cubano ha negato che ci fosse una persecuzione nei confronti degli omosessuali e ovviamente tutti questi illustri giornalisti hanno creduto a queste dichiarazioni.
Mi chiedo come un giornalista come Minà non si ponga il minimo dubbio su questi fatti continuando a idolatrare un personaggio di dubbia moralità.

La parte della detenzione al morro è piuttosto bella e angosciante, come anche la sua infanzia, appassionante da leggere. Il libro alterna fasi bellissime per come è scritto ad altre francamente banali e stereotipate ma penso che abbia a che fare con quella società fortemente machista che lui stesso racconta avere influenzato moltissimo il suo carattere nonostante le sue inclinazioni sessuali.
Per questi motivi l'ho apprezzato ma non amato.
Ci sono anche commenti curiosi su scrittori celebri e sue particolari riflessioni tipo questa:

Uno dei casi più vistosi di ingiustizia intellettuale di questo secolo fu quello di Jorge Luis Borges, al quale venne sistematicamente negato il Premio Nobel per il suo credo politico. Borges è uno degli scrittori latinoamericani più importanti di questo secolo, forse il più importante; ma nonostante questo il Premio Nobel lo hanno dato a Gabriel Garcia Màrquez, scimmiottatore di Faulkner, amico personale di Castro e opportunista nato. La sua opera, salvo qualche indubbio merito, è piena di populismo, di cianfrusaglieria: non arriva all'altezza dei grandi scrittori morti nell'oblio o trascurati.

È però un libro che si deve leggere, almeno per eliminare un po' quell'alone di divinità che si è dato negli anni a Fidel, dittatore come tutti i dittatori, e per porci delle domande sulla realtà dei fatti che ancora oggi non è poi così chiara visto che le uniche cose che sappiamo di Cuba sono comunque quelle volute dal regime o quelle scritte e raccontate dai dissidenti, che però a quanto pare, e lo scrive anche Arenas in questo libro, spesso non vengono creduti.

Però quella mancanza di Guevara mi puzza... ( )
  Atticus06 | Jun 9, 2020 |
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Reinaldo Arenasprimary authorall editionscalculated
Yordanov, StoyanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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"The acclaimed memoir of a homosexual Cuban author chronicling his tumultuous yet luminary life, from his impoverished upbringing in Cuba to his imprisonment at the hands of a Communist regime, now a part of the Penguin Vitae series, with a foreword by Colombian author Jaime Manrique. The astonishing memoir by visionary Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas "is a book above all about being free," said The New York Review of Books--sexually, politically, artistically. Arenas recounts a stunning odyssey from his poverty-stricken childhood in rural Cuba and his adolescence as a rebel fighting for Castro, through his suppression as a writer, imprisonment as a homosexual, his flight from Cuba via the Mariel boat lift, and his subsequent life and the events leading to his death in New York. In what The Miami Herald calls his "deathbed ode to eroticism," Arenas breaks through the code of secrecy and silence that protects the privileged in a state where homosexuality is a political crime. Recorded in simple, straightforward prose, Before Night Falls is the true story of the Kafkaesque life and world re-created in the author's acclaimed novels"--

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