“Anton left us. One of our greats with a capital letter. He knew how to explore secret areas of Cubanness as a narrator, playwright, poet and chronicler. Rest in peace, brother,” the writer and essayist posted on Twitter.
The institution that he heads also mourned the death of one of the founders of Casa de las Americas magazine, of which he was Editor-in-Chief for its first five years. #Cuba loses a unique and incisive intellectual, the cultural center stated on that social network.
The expressions of sorrow on social networks were also joined by the director of the Jose Marti National Library, Omar Valiño, and the president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), Luis Morlote.
“From his UNEAC that he founded together with a group of renowned writers and artists, we send our condolences to family, friends and readers,” Morlote published on his Twitter account.
Upon learning about the sad event, UNEAC Vice President Pedro de la Hoz wrote on Facebook that “an essential man in Cuban culture has died. He is one of the dead who never rest in peace.”
A member of the Cuban Academy of Language, the prominent writer was born in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba on August 14, 1935.
Since a very young age, he was interested in literature and theater. His play “El Caso se Investiga,” premiered in 1957, became a milestone, uniting the European avant-garde with the vernacular heritage for the first time on the national stage.
During that period, he published reviews, plays, stories and poems in the Ciclon magazine. In 1962 his first book, “En claro,” where his adolescent poems are collected, was published.
Arrufat worked at the Lunes de Revolución publication. He also founded and directed the prestigious magazine Casa de las Americas for five years. Together with a group of intellectuals, he was the founder of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).
His plays have been translated into Polish, English and French and have been staged in the United States, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Poland. He has published in Europe magazine, L’Arc, Les Lettres, Quimera, Siempre, Ever green, and in almost all Cuban magazines.
For his play “Los Siete contra Tebas” (1968), he was awarded the Theater Award granted by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).
jg/ode/mml
