Reinaldo Arenas collection

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

(1943-1990)

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

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Custodial history

Immediate source of acquisition

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

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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.

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Accession area