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Critics worldwide have praised Reinaldo Arenas's writing. His extraordinary memoir, Before Night Falls, was named one of The New York Times Book Review's fourteen "Best Books of 1993" and hailed by Mario Vargas Llosa as "one of the most shattering testimonials ever written." Provocative and compelling, the Cuban-born author's story has now been made into a major motion picture. The Color of Summer, Arena's finest comic achievement, is also the fulfillment of his life's work, the Pentagonia, show more a five-volume cycle of autobiographical novels he began writing in his early twenties. Although it is the penultimate installment in his "secret history of Cuba," it was, in fact, the last book Arenas wrote before his death in 1990. A tale of survival by wits and wit, The Color of Summer is ultimately a powerful and passionate story about the triumph of the human spirit over the forces of political and sexual repression. show lessTags
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Es pleno verano y en la isla de Cuba comienza el gran carnaval que festeja los cincuenta años en el poder de Fifo, dictador ya viejo y enloquecido. Con agilidad y sarcasmo, en un relato lleno de divertidos guiños al lector, Reinaldo Arenas describe ora los actos desaforados que se han programado en homenaje al tirano, ora, y en palabras del propio autor, «la vida subterránea de una juventud desgarrada, erotizada, rebelde y a veces envilecida» pero que se niega a aceptar la prisión en que se ha convertido la isla. Los atropellos y luchas de los que se arriman al poder, las triquiñuelas para sobrevivir en la miseria y la represión, todo estalla durante la gran fiesta, y en medio del bullicio se desencadenan los deseos más show more desinhibidos, los rencores, las intrigas y el miedo. Porque, entre burlas y veras, El color del verano, novela testimonial, narra el horror -de quien vive en Cuba, pero también el exiliado- y la imposibilidad de acceder a un futuro mejor. show less
Jul 14, 2022Spanish
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Blue Pyramid 1,276 Best Books of All Time
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Author Information
45+ Works 2,874 Members
The novel The Ill-fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando recreates in a poetic style, in which time, space, and character move on multiple planes of fantasy and reality, the life of Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, a Mexican priest famous for his hatred of the Spaniards. Mier denied even that the Spaniards had brought Christianity to the New World. show more Arenas begins with a letter to the friar: "Ever since I discovered you in an execrable history of Spanish literature, described as the friar who had traveled over the whole of Europe on foot having improbable adventures; I have tried to find out more about you." In a meditation on the nature of fiction, Arenas discovers that he and Servando are the same person, and author and character become one. (Bowker Author Biography) Reinaldo Arenas, born on July 16, 1943 in Cuba, endured a harsh and dismal childhood. Poverty stricken, Arenas joined Castro's revolution in an attempt to better society. He soon fell out of favor with Castro's regime and his writings were censored. Arenas continued to work as a writer, journalist, and editor, and was imprisoned 1974 to 1976. Arenas was deported to America in 1980 when Castro was ridding Cuba of criminals, artists, and others whom he perceived as adversaries. Arenas's works include novels, short stories, poems, and newspaper articles. In addition to the influence of his poor background, his writing is marked by the homosexual lifestyle he lived and includes such noteworthy titles as Farewell to the Sea, Graveyard of the Angels, and The Brightest Star. On December 7, 1990, while suffering from complications of AIDS, Arenas committed suicide by combining massive doses of drugs and alcohol. He outlined his reasons for taking his life in a letter written to a Spanish newspaper. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Color of Summer
- Original title
- El color del verano
- Original publication date
- 1990
- People/Characters
- Reinaldo Arenas
- Epigraph
- Because I'll tell you, anywhere there are this many whores, you can't make a single one of 'em follow orders. -- Carajicomedia
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- 184
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- Reviews
- 1
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- Languages
- English, French, Spanish
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 2
