Celestino antes y despues del alba

La novela-testimonio ha sido desde siempre un género literario híbrido y difícil de definir. En este trabajo, empezaré destacando los rasgos principales e imprescindibles de este tipo de novela y trataré a la vez el tema polémico de la aceptación o no de la ficción en el mismo. En la segunda parte del estudio, me detendré en el análisis de la primera novela del escritor cubano Reinaldo Arenas Celestino antes del alba dentro de un contexto testimonial y aclararé cuál es su lugar dentro del género testimonio. The documentary novel has always been considered as a hibrid literary genre difficult to define. The first part of this article will emphasize its main and essential characteristics and, at the same time, address the polemic topic of the acceptance or not of the fiction in it. The second part of the study is an analysis of the first novel of the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, Singing from the well, within the context of the documentary novel.

Autofiction as a fictional metaphorical self-translation:the case of Reinaldo Arenas' El color del verano

In the past thirty years, autofiction has been at the center of many literary studies (Alberca 2005/6, 2007; Colonna 1989, 2004; Gasparini 2004; Genette 1982), although only recently in Hispanic literary studies. Despite the many common characteristics with self-translation, no interdisciplinary perspective has ever been offered by academic researchers in Literary nor in Translation Studies. This article analyses how the Cuban author, Reinaldo Arenas, uses specific methods inherent to autofiction, such as nominal and personal identity exploitation, among others, to translate himself metaphorically into his novel El color del verano [The colour of summer]. Analysing this novel drawing on the theory of self-translation sheds light on the intrinsic and extraneous motives behind the writer’s decision to use this specific literary genre, as well as the benefits presented to the reader who gains access to the ‘interliminal space’ of the writer’s work as a whole.