The celebrated memoirs of the homosexual Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas depict his tumultuous yet radiant life, from his impoverished childhood in Cuba to his imprisonment by a communist regime.

A Penguin Vitae edition.

The astonishing memoirs of the visionary Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas are primarily a book about freedom – sexually, politically, and artistically. Arenas recounts an impressive odyssey that spans his poverty-stricken childhood in rural Cuba and his youth as a rebel fighting for Castro, through his suppression as a writer, his imprisonment as a homosexual, his escape from Cuba via the Mariel boatlift, and his subsequent life, including the events leading to his death in New York. In what the Miami Herald describes as his deathbed ode to eroticism, Arenas breaks through the code of secrecy and silence that protects the privileged in a state where homosexuality is a political crime. Captured in simple, clear prose, this is the true story of the Kafkaesque life and world that were recreated in the celebrated novels of the author.

Penguin Classics is launching a new hardcover series featuring five American classics that remain powerful, relevant, and timeless, and are part of a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and non-fiction spanning nearly seventy-five years of classic publishing. Penguin Vitae offers readers beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives and invites new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.