Writing Between Evasion and Escape: Escapism and Prison Writing in Reinaldo Arenas’s Arturo, la estrella más brillante
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Authors
Journal Title
Modern Language Review
ISSN
0026-7937
Publisher
Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA)
Type
Article
This Version
AM
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Wilson-Nunn, O. Writing Between Evasion and Escape: Escapism and Prison Writing in Reinaldo Arenas’s Arturo, la estrella más brillante. Modern Language Review https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.85033
Abstract
In studies of prison writing, escapism is typically viewed either as a necessary tool of relief and personal transformation or, more critically, as a practice that is easily co-opted by the disciplinary logic of rehabilitation. In this article I trouble this dichotomy, proposing a nuanced way of approaching escapism through an analysis of dissident Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas’s experimental novella Arturo, la estrella más brillante (1984). Focusing on the context of forced labour camps (UMAP) in revolutionary Cuba, I dwell on the complex negotiations between momentary evasion and transcendental escape that result from escapism for both writers and readers.
Sponsorship
Research for an earlier version of this text was made possible thanks to a Baillie Gifford Cambridge UK Masters Scholarship and I wrote the final piece supported by a scholarship from The Wolfson Foundation.
Embargo Lift Date
2025-05-30
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.85033
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337626
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