Mona and Other Tales [Paperback]

Reinaldo Arenas (Author), Dolores M. Koch (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2001

Mona and Other Tales covers Reinaldo Arenas's entire career: his recently rediscovered debut (which got him a job at the Biblioteca Nacional in Havana), stories written in a political prison, and some of his last works, written in exile. Many of the stories have not previously appeared in English.

Here is the tender story of a boy who recognizes evil for the first time and decides to ignore it; the tale of a writer struggling between the demands of creativity and of fame; common people dealing with changes brought about by revolution and exile; a romp with a famous, dangerous woman in the Metropolitan Museum; an outrageous fantasy that picks up where Garcia Lorca's famous play The House of Bernardo Alba ends. Told with Arenas's famous wit and humanity, Mona makes a perfect introduction to this important writer.

Translated from the Spanish by Dolores Koch.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Buoyed by the recent surge of interest in Cuban culture, the energetic work of dissident Cuban writer Arenas (1943-90) has finally penetrated the consciousness of North American readers. Arenas's bracing memoir, Before Night Falls, ranks among the great testimonials to the power of the imagination in the face of state repression. This volume gathers stories (and one essay) that are available in English for the first time and span the range of Arenas's career. Several pieces burst with his enormously brave and productive defiance of any form of thought control, be it political repression or aesthetic convention. The title story is a late 20th-century allegory of exile and belonging reminiscent of Poe and de Sade, while "End of a Story" is a moving and yet spirited elegy to a love lost to suicide and a country lost to politics. This story is set on Key West and in Arenas's own imaginary island of Manhattan-cum-Havana and is filled with Whitmanian longing, caustic wit, and articulate rage. The two stories named "Parade" permit outsiders to approximate the experience of a revolution in a mob of words, and the small masterpiece "Alipio's Kingdom" reveals Arenas's abundant imagination and control of narrative form. Although the volume would have benefited from a short introduction, it is recommended for all public and academic libraries. Ulrich Baer, New York Univ.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker

Arenas has an Orwellian flare for charged, unflinching political satire, but it is his range that impresses in this posthumous collection. Boys and their escapes are among his most compelling subjects: boys who stargaze at constellations of their own invention, walk with their eyes closed to blot out the cruelty of their companions, or join revolutions they do not faintly comprehend. Arenas also delights in taking comic liberties with past masterpieces. In "Halley's Comet," the characters from Garcia Lorca's "House of Bernarda Alba" pack up and move to provincial Cuba. And in "Mona," which cloaks itself in layers of ersatz textual commentary, a Cuban exile in New York falls into the clutches of a femme fatale who bears a striking resemblance to a familiar Italian Renaissance portrait. The lust and violence that pervade the author's memoir, "Before Night Falls," are also present here, but the fierce humor and quiet ache of these tales offer a memorable counterpoint.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (September 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375727302
• ISBN-13: 978-0375727306
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #947,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imagination and Energy Leap Effortlessly Off the Page., January 27, 2005

By 

Bohdan Kot (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mona and Other Tales (Paperback)

Reinaldo Arenas, author of the memoir, Before Night Falls, brings us an imaginative collection with Mona and Other Tales. 14 short stories and one essay comprise the posthumously published book. Arenas, a self-imposed Cuban exile, fled for New York City in 1980. Castro's iron fist fell harder on Arenas, a gay intellectual. The author was a political prisoner in Cuba for much of the 60s and 70s for his writings and lifestyle. His novel, Hallucinations, had to be smuggled out of Cuba. The book propelled him into international fame, however the author died in 1990.

No one word or phrase can accurately describe Arenas' energy. He weaves sentences succinctly and soon, a beautiful tapestry lies before one's eyes. Like an acrobat who has perfected his or her art, there is no strain here. Arenas' words flow across the page. His humor is quick and subtle. Most interesting is the footnotes in the short story, "Mona"-both bizarre and hilarious. In the first footnote, the author pokes fun at himself. "Besides being frivolous, Arenas was a real ignoramus."

"Mona" also verges into the fantasy genre. The main character, Ramon Fernandez, seemingly attacks the Mona Lisa painting at the Metropolitan Museum. I say seemingly because the strange story becomes stranger as it unfolds in a high-paced manner towards a surprising conclusion.

The short stories "Parade Begins" and "Traitor" bear out the raw, difficult life in Cuba. One can feel the anguish of living in a non-tolerant Communist Cuba.

My personal favorite, "Halley's Comet," follows the five Alba sisters in 1891 from their Andalusian home to a small town in Cuba. A simple, pure joy is expressed in this amorous short story that was inspired from Federico Garcia Lorca's play, The House of Bernarda Alba.

Mona and Other Tales showcases Arenas' versatility. We peer into the mind of a sleepless boy on Christmas Eve, delve into an essay on Latin-American literature, understand the psychological horror a Communist regime dispels, and so much more is offered-a cornucopia of thoughts and emotions.

Arenas will delight and horrify-an amazing collection of short stories that will jumble the brain with its originality.

Bohdan Kot

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Writers I have read, March 15, 2006

By 

D. Miess - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mona and Other Tales (Paperback)

I was quite suprised that I had never heard of Reinaldo Arenas. He had to be one of the best writers that I had read. His language was certainly well-developed, had a certain sense of whimsy and captured the feeling of moments. I truly thought that Mona was interesting, with his twist on the Mona Lisa. He really captures the modern world in his speach, and I suggest anyone to read his writings.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent, May 13, 2007

By 

Baroque Loverboy "Emperor Oberon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mona and Other Tales (Paperback)

Glorious work of amusing short stories. Reinaldo is able to weave entire worlds even in the span of just a few pages. Old Mona is fantastic and truely diffrent. I will never look at the Mona Lisa again in the same way. Bravo Reinaldo.