Gay Cuban Activist in Exile: Reinaldo Arenas

Places Reinaldo Arenas' work at the intersection of twentieth-century sexual and cultural politics. Examining Arenas' fiction, critical articles, the epic poem "El Central", and hundreds of letters to friends and critics, this work explores the writer's bold criticism of the Castro regime and his bitter conflict with pro-Castro supporters.

Between Reinaldo Arenas' arrival in the United States in 1980 and his suicide a decade later, the Cuban exile produced his most mature writing, a prolific body of work that Rafael Ocasio places at the intersection of twentieth-century sexual and cultural politics. Examining Arenas' fiction, critical articles, the epic poem "El Central", and hundreds of letters to friends and critics, Ocasio explores the writer's bold criticism of the Castro regime and his bitter conflict with notable pro-Castro supporters such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He connects Arenas' political activism to his public sexual identity and fierce advocacy of homosexuality, including his willingness to alienate Latino and Latin American audiences in order to remain true to his self-proclaimed identity. As much literary biography as interpretation, "A Gay Cuban Activist in Exile" also reveals that Arenas disguised and misused his criminal conviction in Cuba as a homosexual pederast, and discusses Arenas' posthumously published autobiography, Before Night Falls, which documents the last, HIV-positive years of his life.

"An important scholarly contribution to affirming the crucial importance of Arenas as both a Cuban and gay Latino writer." - David William Foster, Regents' Professor of Spanish and Women's Studies, Arizona State University. "This book will transform any future scholarship on Reinaldo Arenas's life and work.... An invaluable, timely contribution to our knowledge of one of Cuba's most important, and most misunderstood, literary artists." - Ricardo Ortiz, Georgetown University"

Acknowledgments		vii
Note on Quotation of Arenas's Works and Letters		ix
Introduction		1	(8)
The ``Marielito'' Experience		9	(35)
A Neophyte in Political Activism		44	(32)
The Use of History in Political Activism		76	(37)
The Sexual Life of a Queer Activist		113	(37)
Conclusion		150	(9)
Notes		159	(14)
Bibliography		173	(12)
Index		185

Rafael Ocasio is Charles A. Dana Professor of Spanish at Agnes Scott College and the author of one other book on Arenas's life and writings, Cuba's Political and Sexual Outlaw.