Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Reinaldo Arenas collection
Date(s)
- 1980-1990 (Creation)
Extent
45 CDs (1.5 linear feet)
Name of creator
Biographical history
Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright born in Holguín in 1943. As a teenager he joined Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement. He moved to Havana in 1961 and was a researcher at the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí from 1963 to 1968. He later worked as an editor for the Instituto Cubano del Libro (1967-1968) and as a journalist and editor for La Gaceta de Cuba (1968-1974).
Arenas' first novel, Celestino antes del alba (1967) was the only one of his works to be published in Cuba. His second novel, El mundo alucinante (1969), was clandestinely taken out of Cuba and first published in French. During the 1970s, Arenas was imprisoned for his writings and homosexuality.
He eventually became a vocal critic of Castro's government, and in 1980, he fled Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift. Once living in the United States, he published the following works: Otra vez el mar (1982); La vieja rosa (1980); Necesidad de libertad (1986); La loma del ángel (1987); and El portero (1988).
Affected by AIDS, Arenas died by suicide in 1990. His posthumous works include Viaje a La Habana: novela en tres viajes (1990) and Antes que anochezca: autobiografía (1992).
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The collection contains audio recordings on 45 CDs, created from original recordings by Reinaldo Arenas and Roberto Valero. The recordings include dictations of Arenas' memoir Antes que anochezca (19 CDs), interviews between Valero and Arenas conducted in 1986 (10 CDs) and 1988 (13 CDs), Arenas' reading from his works (1982), and a joint lecture by Arenas and the poet Heberto Padilla titled "The Cuban Intellectual Today" (1980).
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research.
Physical access
Technical access
An access copy of the materials will be made available upon request. Please contact chc@miami.edu for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Requests to publish or display materials from this collection require written permission from the rights owner. Please contact chc@miami.edu for more information.
Preferred citation: Reinaldo Arenas collection, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.
Languages of the material
- Spanish
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Reinaldo Arenas Papers, Princeton University - http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/4f16c2820
Princeton University Library Collection of Reinaldo Arenas Materials - http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/70795b517
Reinaldo Arenas Letters to Jorge and Margarita Camacho - http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/5999n414b
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Sources used
Archivist's note
Collection-level record created by Amanda Moreno, August 2021.