Celestino antes del alba (1967) is Reinaldo Arenas’ first novel and only book he ever published in Cuba. Ediciones Unión printed the novel after it received a honourable mention in National Literary Contest Cirilo Villaverde in 1965. The novel was written while Arenas worked at the National Library. The Cuban artist Manuel Vidal designed the artwork for the edition of 2,000 copies. The book sold out in one week and it was never reprinted in Cuba, but due to its limited run “the author’s reputation was restricted to a small number of Cubans”. Arenas’ second novel, El mundo alucinante [Hallucinations] received another recognition at a national literary award but it was not printed due to rumours of Arena’s homosexuality Arenas smuggled out of the island the manuscripts of Celestino antes del alba and El mundo alucinante that were published in France by Editions du Seuil, and the manuscript of Con los ojos cerrados that was published by Editorial Arca in Uruguay.
Arenas escaped Cuba in 1980 in the Mariel exodus after being in jail for over three years for false accusations of “child molestation” and for “publishing outside Cuba without the permission of the UNEAC”. Arenas was marginalized for his homosexuality and for defying the Revolution’s control on freedom of speech by publishing his books outside Cuba.
Arenas “attacks to the Cuban government were based on the policies against homosexuals in Cuba”. Later in exile he would become the most outspoken critic of the treatment of homosexuals during the Revolution. His legacy relies on his courageous accounts of repression during the 1960s and 1970s against homosexuals and freedom. Arenas’ literary voice is part of the new wave of intellectuals writing on homosexual subjects and Cuban literature but from the exile.
Your contribution will further my studies in this area and it will also be your birthday present.
Thanks,
David Fernández