Singing from the Well (Pentagonia)

Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban author and poet who was portrayed in the film Before Night Falls. Born in 1942 he grew up poor in the countryside and was frequently abused by his relatives. Singing from the Well is the first of four books which are autobiographical in nature. This is the first in the series and covers those years of childhood. As much of the action takes place within the author's mind as a child as it does in the outside world and involves his friendship with his cousin Celestino who may or may not be dead but who has the urgent need to carve poetry into all the trees on the family property.He and Celestino live together as part of an extended family which include both mothers, more cousins (some living, some dead) as well as their grandparents. None of the fathers remain. They are a self-serving lot intent on only taking care of themselves.We meet Eulogia, a cousin who was frequently beat, starved and ridiculed and who, one day, was sent for firewood but never returned. We meet Celestino's mother, Carmelina, a defeated woman who hangs herself, We meet his other aunts, each a variation of gossip, cruelty and greed. Grandma and Grandpa have been married many years but frequently not only wish the other was dead but sometimes even go so far as to plot the other's demise although none of the plans are carried out. Grandpa has a particular hate for Celestino's poetry carving obsession and matches it with an equally obsessive need to cut down each tree with carving on it for fear that the neighbors will ridicule them and because he views Celestino as weak, not a man but more like a woman. Grandma has an unique viciousness all to herself."The hen got away from me, Grandma.""Son of a bitch! We'd be all better off if you just died."The author often visits his dead cousins who sit on the leaky roof of the shed and cry when it rains. He and Celestino go on adventures which may or may not be imaginary escapes. Grandpa, grandma and his mother are always looking for them to constantly work. And, when they do, it's never good enough."Celestino has stumbled over a rock and knocked down I don't know how many corn plants. Grandpa sees what's happened and comes running over to where Celestino is lying on the ground, and he starts chopping at him with the hoe."This is a novel told in small pieces just as a child would talk but with practically none of the innocence remaining. It is a story of generational trauma fed by land that produces nothing, sun that practically melts the need to work in order to survive, rain, that when it comes, doesn't nurture so much as it drowns. It is the devolution of a family which has gone far beyond feeding each other and, instead, begins feeding on each other. A quote the author uses from The Magic Mirror exemplifies it best:"Do not ask her whence she comes.Her history is of little account.In their poverty.her parents sold her fora bag of white rice."

Great Book

Haven't read it yet. Good copy.

Good

This review was composed in two parts. I started it in October on the eve of my sojourn to Cuba, a place that I have wanted to visit for many years although I can't quite say why. On one level I'm sure it's because as an American travel to the island has been disallowed for so long; usually one of the best ways to get me to do something is to tell me that I can't. :-) In keeping with a self-imposed requirement to familiarize myself with a travel destination through the literature of its countrymen, I sought out Cuban novelist in search of a book that would set the stage for my visit. There wasn't a large selection to choose from at my local library but "Singing from the Well" was available (not my first choice) so I checked it out.Originally published in 1967, Arenas' first novel is set in a small Cuban town and reveals life through the eyes of a young boy in a multigenerational family of farmers. Highly symbolic and lyrical, the story juxtaposes the beautiful countryside with the terror imposed on young Celestino and his cousin by their family and community. It's a story of repression, evidenced by the family's attempt to suppress the poetry and freedom of the story's youths. Stylistically the novel was a bit challenging for me. The magical realism of the text left me confused at times. As I read the book I wasn't sure to what extent it would familiarize me with current day Cuba but I was certain that I would read more of Arenas' work.It wasn't until my return from Cuba that I begin to really see the dichotomy of the text in light of my experience in the country: the magnificent beauty of the landscape amid an infrastructure of decay; the energy and ingenuity of the people in a state controlled economic environment where hard work and aspiration is neither rewarded nor incentivized; a food rationing system set out to ensure everyone receives equal access to supplies amid a black-market system where those with the financial means have greater access; a social system that provides free access to education and healthcare amid a government that squashes decent and free speech.But things are changing in Cuba, and I'm excited about the impact those changes will have on the country's literature. While my initial engagement with Cuba was through Arenas' first novel I look forward a fresh encounter through a novel that reflects the Cuban condition today. For the record, I think that the U.S. embargo is a bit heavy handed and outdated. Let's face it, Cuba does not pose a threat to the U.S. Communism fell and Russian has moved on. The embargo is like a foot on the throat of Cuba and it seems extremely punishing in an environment where it's no longer warranted. As one Cuban professor put it, "if the U.S. can trade with China - arguably the worse human rights violators on the planet - why not Cuba?" "Singing from the Well" is a worthwhile read and a trip to Cuba is a must.

The first novel of Arenas's "Pentagonia" ... beautiful, poignant, and at times downright frustrating. Reality and fantasy seamlessly interweave in this depiction of a boy's childhood in pre-Castro Cuba. I am having a difficult time putting into words my experience with this novel. Arenas's prose is gorgeous, poetic in its lyricism, crossing into a style that reads like a fusion between Walt Whitman and James Joyce, reminiscent of the latter particularly in the novel's final section, a mad and hallucinatory set piece that takes place during Christmas and is written completely as dialogue. There is much abuse - both physical and psychological - to be endured in these pages, yet through it all Arenas maintains a strangely uplifting tone. His descriptions of nature are stunning in their simplicity and detail, as is the relationship between the young narrator and his mother that provides the through-line around which the action of the novel centers.By its end, the reader is left moved and exhilarated, yet painfully aware that life for this boy and his mother really isn't going to get much better ... and, if we are to read the narrator as Reinaldo Arenas himself, in fact, will get much much worse.I was frequently reminded of Julian Schnabel's film of Arenas's memoir "Before Night Falls", particularly of the early childhood scenes at the beginning of the film. If you haven't seen it, it serves as an excellent introduction to the life of this amazing artist. If you have seen it, the film stands to be viewed again.

Not an easy read - but a classic . Best to read Arenas last book first - (before night falls) to fully understand his life, then work back..

Very good

Good