Reinaldo Arenas e il trauma delle dittature

Abstract

Reinaldo Arenas is a Cuban writer known for his opposition to Fidel Castro’s regime. In his work Antes queanochezca. Autobiografía, written as a book of memories, the author recalls his life and minutely recounts his traumatic experience in prison as a homosexual protester, and his new life in the USA, experienced as being in exile. This article concentrates on a comparative study of the novel and screen adaptation, entitled Before Night Falls, directed by Julian Schnabel in 2000. If at the very beginning, Arenas is engaged against Cuban Communism, at the end of his life, he will consider that all political systems repressing freedom and dignity are equally reprehensible.