Becoming Reinaldo Arenas .................... .............................................. Becoming Reinaldo Arenas ......................... .................................................................. family, sexuality, and the cuban revolution Jorge Olivares Duke University Press . Durham and London . 2013 ∫ 2013 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper $ Designed by Courtney Leigh Baker Typeset in Galliard by Keystone Typesetting Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. For Marc, with love .contents. Acknowledgments . ix Note on Translations . xiii prologue Encountering Arenas . 1 ...................... chapter one I Scream, Therefore I Am . 7 ...................... chapter two Climbing the Family Tree . 36 ...................... chapter three In Search of the Father(land) . 65 ...................... chapter four All About Mother . 91 ...................... chapter five Facing AIDS . 114 ...................... epilogue After Night Falls . 148 Notes . 173 Works Cited . 203 Index . 231 .acknowledgments. I am fortunate to be part of a circle of Cuban friends and scholars with whom I share not only a love of country but also a passion for its literature. In one way or another, they have left their imprint on Becoming Reinaldo Arenas, for which I am profoundly grateful. More than thirty years ago Nivia Montenegro suggested that we interview the recently exiled Reinaldo Arenas; unbeknownst to me at the time, the seed for this book was then planted. My heartfelt thanks go to Monte, from whom I have learned much about Cuba and Arenas, as I have from another friend and cubanólogo, Enrico Mario Santí. Lesbia Varona, librarian extraordinaire at the Univer- sity of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection, has made available to me, with her legendary generosity, countless materials without which I could not have written this book. Graciella Cruz-Taura and Rosa Perelmuter, enthu- siastic cheerleaders of this project, o√ered many encouraging words. Ro- berto Ignacio Díaz, with whom I have a comte and a comtesse in common, has been a princely interlocutor and fellow traveler since our paths crossed years ago in central Maine. A special mention goes to Gustavo Pérez Firmat, my most engaging and toughest critic, who has meticulously read every word that I have ever written on Reinaldo Arenas. My immense gratitude goes to him for his insightful comments, keen suggestions, and gentle prodding during this long journey. During the many years that it took to write Becoming Reinaldo Arenas, I was also surrounded by other friends and colleagues who in multiple ways, big and small, helped to make this book a reality: Silvia Bermúdez, Artie Greenspan, Christiane Guillois, Steven Maynard, Luis Millones, Mary Anne Pérez Firmat, Ulla Reidel, Hanna Roisman, Joseph Roisman, and my poker buddies Lisa Arellano, Ludger Duplessis, Carleen Mandolfo, Joyce McPhetres, Betty Sasaki, Nat Shed, Julie de Sherbinin, and Ron Turcotte. My sincere thanks go to all of them for providing support, encouragement,