• Introduction
• Biographical Note
• Collection Description
• Series Descriptions
• Box/Folder Listing

Introduction

Range of Collection Dates: 1968-1990

Range of Collection Bulk Dates: 1980-1990

Size: 11 linear feet (28 archival boxes)

Languages: The primary language of the collection is Spanish; there are typescripts of translations in English and French.

Provenance: The Papers were purchased from the author beginning in 1982.

Restrictions: The original draft of Arenas's autobiography, Antes que anochezca, shall remain closed to the public until the year 2010. The letters by his mother, Oneida Fuentes, are closed until her death. Manuscripts may not be photocopied. Publication requires permission of the literary executors. See the department's "Restrictions Notebook."

Photocopying, literary rights, and citation: Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright. Citations should be as follows: Reinaldo Arenas Papers, Series #, Box #. Used by permission of the Princeton University Libraries.

Biographical Note

In 1962, 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. During this time he wrote a number of short stories and the novel Celestino antes del alba, which in 1965 won a First Mention Award at the Cirilo Villaverde National Competition and was published by UNEAC (National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists) in 1967. In 1973, he was sent to prison after being charged and convicted for "ideological deviation" and for publishing abroad without official consent. In 1974, he was transferred to a rehabilitation camp until 1976, and in 1980, as part of the Port of Mariel exodus, he was exiled in the United States where he lived until his death in New York City, on December 7, 1990.

Major published works: Celestino antes del alba (La Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1967), republished as Cantando en el pozo (Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1982), English translation by Andrew Hurley published as Singing from the Well (New York: Viking, 1987); El mundo alucinante, una novela de aventuras (Mexico: Editorial Diógenes, 1966), originally published in France as Le monde hallucinant (Paris: Editions Du Seuil, 1968), English translation by Gordon Brotherston published as Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Life and Adventures of Friar Servando Teresa de Mier (New York: Harper & Row, 1971); El palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas (Barcelona: Editorial Argos Vergara, 1983), first published in France as Le palais des trés blanches mouffettes (Paris: Editions Du Seuil, 1975), English translation by Andrew Hurley published as The Palace of the White Skunks (New York: Viking, 1990); El Central (Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1981); Termina el desfile (Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1981); Otra vez el mar (Barcelona: Editorial Argos Vergara, 1982), English translation by Andrew Hurley published as Farewell to the Sea, a Novel of Cuba (New York: Viking, 1986); Arturo, la estrella más brillante (Barcelona: Montesinos Editor, 1984), English translation by Andrew Hurley published as "The Brigthest Star" in Old Rosa: A Novel in Two Stories (New York: Grove Press, 1989); Necesidad de libertad (Mexico: Kosmos - Editorial, 1986); Persecución (cinco pieza de teatro experimental) (Miami, Ediciones Universal, 1986); La loma del angel (Barcelona: DADOR / ediciones, 1987), English translation by Alfred MacAdam published as Graveyard of the Angels (New York: Avon Books, 1987); Voluntad de vivir manifestándose (Madrid: Editorial Betania, 1989); El asalto (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1990); Leprosorio (Trilogía poética) (Madrid: Editorial Betania, 1990); El portero (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1990), English translation by Dolores M. Koch published as The Doorman (New York: Grove Press, 1991); Viaje a La Habana (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1990); El color del verano o nuevo jardín de las delicias (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1991); Final de un cuento (Diputación Provincial de Huelva: El Fantasma de la Glorieta, 1991); Antes que anochezca (Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, 1992).

Collection Description

The collection consists of personal and working papers of Reinaldo Arenas. Included is a corrected typescript of his unpublished first novel, "Que dura es la vida" (1959). Also included are typescript drafts and some galley and page proofs with holograph corrections of the novels and novellas Arturo, la estrella más brillante, El asalto, El color del verano o nuevo jardín de las delicias, La loma del angel, Lazarillo [de Tormes] (adaptation), Otra vez el mar, El palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas, Viaje a La Habana (Novela en tres viajes); drafts of the short stories collected under Termina el desfile and of the unpublished collection Adios a mamá; drafts for the play Persecución; drafts of the poetry collections El Central, Voluntad de vivir manifestándose, and Leprosorio, and notes and drafts of essays and articles, most of which were published in Necesidad de libertad. (The original draft for Arenas's autobiography, published as Antes que anochezca, is closed to the public until the year 2010.) Included also is a copy of Arenas's will, dated 6 March 1990, and material about the author, such as interviews, essays and newspaper clippings.

Arenas's correspondence with literary figures, publishers, and academic institutions, covering mainly the period 1980 to 1990, includes letters by Nestor Almendros, Lydia Cabrera, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the painter Jorge Camacho, Rita Geada, Juan Goytisolo, Enrique Labrador Ruiz, Helen Lane, Octavio Paz, Margaret Sayers Peden, Manuel Puig, Angel Rama, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, and Severo Sarduy.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in the following series: I. Works--A. Novels and Novellas, B. Short Stories, C. Plays and Scripts, D. Poetry, and E. Nonfiction; II. Correspondence; and III. Miscellaneous and Printed Material; IV. Additional Papers. A finding aid (35 pp.) is available.

Added Entries

The following added entries have been assigned to this collection to highlight significant sources (other than the main entry), subjects, and forms of the collection's materials. Where possible, Library of Congress Subjects Headings have been used, and the forms of names reflect international cataloging standards. As a result, all of these entries may be searched in the Department's database (MASC), in the Library's online catalogue, and in the public card catalogue to find other related material.

    Subject Headings (in uppercase) / Form Headings (in upper and lower case)

    Adios a mamá / Reinaldo Arenas
    Antes que anochezca / Reinaldo Arenas
    Arturo, la estrella mas brillante / Reinaldo Arenas
    Asalto / Reinaldo Arenas
    Authors, Cuban--20th century--Correspondence
    Authors, Cuban--20th century--Works
    Central / Reinaldo Arenas
    Color del verano o nuevo jardín de las delicias / Reinaldo Arenas
    Cuba--History--1959--Sources
    Cuban drama--20th century
    Cuban essays--20th century
    Cuban fiction--20th century
    CUBA--EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION--20TH CENTURY
    Doorman / Reinaldo Arenas ; Dolores M. Koch (tr.)
    Farewell to the sea / Reinaldo Arenas ; Andrew Hurley (tr.)
    Latin American fiction--20th Century
    Loma del Angel / Reinaldo Arenas
    LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE--20TH CENTURY
    Leprosorio / Reinaldo Arenas
    LITERATURE--EXILED AUTHORS--20TH CENTURY
    MARIEL BOATLIFT, 1980
    Necesidad de libertad / Reinaldo Arenas
    Novelists, Cuban--20th century--Correspondence
    Novelists, Cuban--20th century--Novels
    Otra vez el mar / Reinaldo Arenas
    Palace of the white skunks / Reinaldo Arenas ; Andrew Hurley (tr.)
    Palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas / Reinaldo Arenas
    Persecución / Reinaldo Arenas
    Political fiction, Cuban--20th century
    Portero / Reinaldo Arenas
    Que dura es la vida / Reinald Arenas
    Singing from the well / Reinaldo Arenas ; Andrew Hurley (tr.)
    Termina el desfile / Reinaldo Arenas
    Viaje a La Habana / Reinaldo Arenas
    Voluntad de vivir manifestándose / Reinaldo Arenas

Series Descriptions

Box/Folder Listing