Reinaldo Arenas

Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright.

Quotes

• I never keep a fixed schedule. I like to write for a while, move around, read, drink something, come back. But when I’ve entered the world of the novel, that demands more concentration. It’s hard to even write a letter, because it means leaving that world. To put aside the typewriter and take out letter paper, or stop because you have to pay the phone bill, is terrible…
  • On his writing process in “The Literature of Uprootedness: An Interview with Reinaldo Arenas” in The New Yorker (2013 Dec 5)

• I’ve always been very interested in the short story. Compared to the often exhausting world of the novel, the short story offers a quicker reward, and there’s something appealing about its greater spontaneity…
  • On his preference for short stories over novels in “The Literature of Uprootedness: An Interview with Reinaldo Arenas” in The New Yorker (2013 Dec 5)

• The writer has a fundamental responsibility to write well or to write the best he can, because if he doesn’t he’s not a writer. And when a writer writes, he’s always referring to a social and historical context…
  • On a writer’s responsibility in “The Literature of Uprootedness: An Interview with Reinaldo Arenas” in The New Yorker (2013 Dec 5)

• In exile one is nothing but a ghost ... I ceased to exist when I went into exile.
  • From Arenas’ work Before Night Falls (as quoted in “On Exile and the Longing for Home: Cuban Writer Reinaldo Arenas”; 2014 Feb 18)