You are the heirs of all my terrors, but also of my hope that cuba will soon be free. Phenomenal woman, still i rise, the road not taken, if you forget me, dreams. The doorman by reinaldo arenas, 1994, grove press edition, in english 1st american ed. The doorman, by reinaldo arenas, is a marvelous novel by one of cubas literary greats. Told by a dying shark, reinaldo arenas is the true story of the last few hours in the life of an unintentional immigrant. Lucas leyva made this film reinaldo arenas trailer on vimeo.
The doorman, his first work set in the united states, breaks new ground with the extraordinary and tragic story of juan, a young cuban refugee who becomes a doorman at a luxury apartment building in manhattan. The paper focuses on the life and poetics of cuban writer reinaldo arenas, an important representative of cuban gay literature, who, due to his sexual orientation and eventual opposition to the. He grew up without his father and surrounded by women. Pdf the silent world of reinaldo arenass novels researchgate. In the doorman arenas tells the story of juan, a cuban refugee who takes a job as a doorman in a new york city apartment building. If you create a free account and sign in, you will be able to customize what is displayed. As a teenager arenas joined the revolution that brought fidel castro to power in 1959. Reinaldo arenas, cubanborn writer of extraordinary and unconventional novels who fled persecution and immigrated to the united states. Before night falls by reinaldo arenas is reissued on the same day. Open library is an initiative of the internet archive, a 501c3 nonprofit, building a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
The main character, juan, fled cuba by boat ten years ago and is now a doorman at a ritzy apartment building in new york. Cite four examples of the way in which reinaldo arenas develops in his memoir before night falls. Reinaldo arenas was a cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for fidel castro and the 1959 revolution, grew critical of. For example, there are only a few dialogues in the doorman 19879and the. Reinaldo arenas poems poems of reinaldo arenas poem hunter. The book has been translated into english by dolores m.
Reinaldo arenas one of cubas most controversial and potent writers of the. Oddly alienated from the tenants, juan finds himself being seduced by their. Reinaldo arenas biography childhood, life achievements. Reinaldo arenas was a cuban writer and poet who rebelled against fidel castros cuban government and fled to the us.
He moved to havana in 1961 and became a researcher in the jose marti. Young juan, a refugee from cuba, is the doorman of a manhattan apartment househome to a disappointed and eclectic group of men and women, and to their even more unhappy pets. Were told on the first pages that he is dying of grief, partly at the loss of his home country, but also because he could not or would not adjust to this practical world. Publication date 1991 topics cubans new york state. Reinaldo arenas july 16, 1943 december 7, 1990 was a cuban poet, novelist, and. Reinaldo arenas was a cuban poet, novelist, and playwright known as an early sympathizer, and later critic of fidel castro and the cuban revolution, and a re.
In order to give his total support to the communist regime, reinaldo moved. Oddly alienated from the tenants, he is seduced by their pets, who are determined to revolt against humans and human society. In his autobiography, published in 1992 after he had. Once in new york he was free to conduct a normal life, writing and publishing extensively. Told from the point of view of a dying shark, reinaldo arenas metaphorically captures the current state of the aging cubanamerican exile community. Reinaldo arenas is the most highly acclaimed writer of cubas postrevolutionary generation.