Scintillating Promises

The other day I was reviewing some notes I took on Before Night Falls by one of my favorite writers, Reinaldo Arenas, from Cuba. Reading his novel, The Color of Summer, was a breakthrough experience for me, as he gave me an idea of how to structure The Book of Mev in a series of recurring chapter titles. The following are some passages from Before Night Falls that I love, ones that reflect his ardor for the word, for books, reading them and writing them…

(1) “Walking among those shelves, I saw, radiating from each book, the scintillating promise of a unique mystery.”

(2) “Meeting Lezama was an entirely different experience. Here was a man who had made literature his very life; here was one of the most erudite human beings I had ever met. He did not use his knowledge to show off; it was simply something to hang on to for survival, something vital that fired his imagination and at the same time reflected on anyone who came close to him. Lezama had the extraordinary gift of radiating creative vitality. After talking with him I would go home and sit down at my typewriter to write, because it was impossible to listen to that man without being inspired. In him, wisdom and innocence met. He had a special talent for giving meaning to the life of others.”

(3) “We wrote incessantly and would read anywhere: in abandoned houses, in parks, at beaches, while walking over rocks. We would read not only our own words but also those of great writers…. We would read for everyone to enjoy.”

(4) “Writing crowned or complemented all other pleasures as well as calamities.”

(5) “I started writing my memoirs in the notebooks that Juan had brought me. Under the title Before Night Falls I would write all day until dark, waiting for the other darkness that would come when the police eventually found me. I had to hurry to get my writing done before my world finally darkened, before I was thrown in jail.”

(6) “Sometimes at night I would continue reading The Iliad with the help of my lighter.”

(7) “At midnight we parted and Lezama said to me: ‘Remember that our only salvation lies in words: Write!’”