Reinaldo Arenas’s Original Antes que anochezca Manuscript: Unveiling and Unraveling “Un escándalo póstumo”

Abstract: This study, the first of its kind, closely examines Reinaldo Arenas’s original Antes que anochezca manuscript, a text long shrouded in mystery; in the process, it reveals surprising redactions that were not included in some of the published versions of the autobiography. It provides contextualization and analysis of the collective process of both written and oral composition of Antes , as well as the editorial process carried out by Arenas and his “literary team” posthumously. The author also explores a multitude of relevant adjacent materials, in addition to a second Antes manuscript, edited by Dolores Koch.