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La Cuba de Reinaldo Arenas

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Author

  • Benjamin Nydius

Summary, in English

The focus of this thesis is to revise, summarize and analyze the political aspects of Cuba in Antes que anochezca and Viaje a La Habana by the Cuban poet/writer, Reinaldo Arenas, who upon being declared a dissident due to his counter revolutionary ideas and his sexual orientation, suffered oppression, persecution and, finally, exile from Cuba when he, much against his will, travelled to the United States of America where he spent his final years in an exile accompanied by the terminal disease of Aids that consumed much of his energy and will to fight for a free Cuba. The thesis analyzes Arenas’s opinions and criticism in order to closely observe the image that he tries to portray of Cuba. The pivotal point of this work revolves around the problem that comes to one’s attention when revising the texts of Arenas: the validity of his criticism on Cuba and Fidel Castro in general. In order to be able to confront the above mentioned problem, this thesis sets out to analyze the writings of Arenas and, additionally, use works done by other writers and academics when analyzing the criticism and the reasoning of the author. Arenas’s opinions and the image of Cuba given by him in the above mentioned novels, even though valid in many aspects, still seem to lack a solid substance and the objective arguments that are necessary to describe the political situation of a country. Arenas seems to suffer a prejudice caused by his exile, his sexual orientation and his illness, matters that, according to the analysis of this essay, have affected his writing and his opinions of Cuba.

Department/s

Publishing year

2015

Language

Spanish

Document type

Student publication for Master's degree (one year)

Topic

  • Languages and Literatures

Keywords

  • Arenas
  • Cuba
  • Homosexualidad
  • Exilio

Supervisor

  • Christian Claesson (Ph.D.)