Antes que anochezca
With the success of Julian Schnabel's art-house movie Before  Night Falls, based on the autobiography of Arenas and starring  Spanish actor Javier Bardem, Arenas has begun to solidify his  place in the Latin American canon. Almost unknown when he killed  himself in 1990 (Jaime Manrique noted in the Village Voice that  fewer than a dozen people attended Arena's funeral), Arenas is  now recognized as one of Cuba's most furious and unconventional  novelists, an accomplishment that is especially stunning when  one learns that Arenas was an autodidact who carved his first  poems into the trunks of trees. Arenas was born in the Cuban countryside in 1943, and as a  teenager he supported Castro's revolution. But later on, his  opposition to government policies and his status as a homosexual  marked him as a "social danger" and a "counterrevolutionary"Ain  the '70s, he was arrested and spent two years in El Morro  prison. In 1980, he escaped the island and moved to the United  States.  At his death, Arenas left behind an impressive body of work:  seven novels, a book of essays, an autobiography, and scores of  poems. The Spanish publisher Tusquets has set out to republish  all of Arenas's works, many of which are still difficult to  find. In addition to Antes que anochezca, Arenas's moving  autobiography, which he completed in New York City just days  before he died, the publisher is now reprinting El palacio de  las blanqu!simas mofetas, the third installment of Arenas's  quintet of novels about Cuban history. Tusquets has already  published the first two parts: El color del verano (The Color of  Summer) and Celestino antes del alba (Celestino Before Dawn).  Set in the time of Batista's dictatorship, El palacio follows  the adventures of Fortunato, a young man who escapes the  limitations of country life, and a series of failed romances, by  joining the rebel army that threatens to overthrow Batista.  These books will be of interest to all public and academic  libraries and bookstores of all sizes.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.