www.ambiente.us JULY | JULIO 2009
The Eminent Jaime Manrique
Interview by Charlie Vázquez
Award-winning author and Colombian-born scholar Jaime Manrique is a
legendary presence in the literary world and an icon to gay Latino writers and
others. A former professor of creative writing at Columbia University (and
elsewhere), he has crafted over a dozen fiction and non-fiction volumes such as
Eminent Maricones, Twilight at the Equator and Latin Moon in Manhattan (all by
University of Wisconsin Press). During the 1970s and 1980s, Jaime befriended the
exiled Latin-American writers Reinaldo Arenas (Before Night Falls) and Manuel
Puig (Kiss of the Spiderwoman), before they succumbed to AIDS. These
experiences, plus his fascinating research on Spanish poet Federico García
Lorca, make up the backbone of Eminent Maricones—the most notorious of all
his gay-themed books. Jaime’s essay, “The Last Days of Reinaldo Arenas”, has
been recently republished by the University of Wisconsin Press in Gay American
Autobiography: Writings from Whitman to Sedaris (University of Wisconsin Press,
2009). I recently met with “Don Jaime” to discuss his literary achievements and
future projects.
Charlie Vázquez | Julian Schnabel’s movie “Before Night Falls” helped to
The Eminent Jaime Manrique
Interview by Charlie Vázquez
Award-winning author and Colombian-born scholar Jaime Manrique is a
legendary presence in the literary world and an icon to gay Latino writers and
others. A former professor of creative writing at Columbia University (and
elsewhere), he has crafted over a dozen fiction and non-fiction volumes such as
Eminent Maricones, Twilight at the Equator and Latin Moon in Manhattan (all by
University of Wisconsin Press). During the 1970s and 1980s, Jaime befriended the
exiled Latin-American writers Reinaldo Arenas (Before Night Falls) and Manuel
Puig (Kiss of the Spiderwoman), before they succumbed to AIDS. These
experiences, plus his fascinating research on Spanish poet Federico García
Lorca, make up the backbone of Eminent Maricones—the most notorious of all
his gay-themed books. Jaime’s essay, “The Last Days of Reinaldo Arenas”, has
been recently republished by the University of Wisconsin Press in Gay American
Autobiography: Writings from Whitman to Sedaris (University of Wisconsin Press,
2009). I recently met with “Don Jaime” to discuss his literary achievements and
future projects.
Charlie Vázquez | Julian Schnabel’s movie “Before Night Falls” helped to
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immortalize Reinaldo Arenas; his persecution, alienation, sickness, and feverish
opinions. Did you sense that Reinaldo would become a queer icon when you
knew him, or did you suspect that his story would disappear, as has happened to
so many renegade writers ravaged by political exploitation?
Jaime Manrique | When I knew him he was already a very important Latin-
American writer—he had readers all over the world. Toward the end of his life he
gave me a manuscript draft of Before Night Falls, his most famous book, and I
realized that he’d written one of the great autobiographies of the 20th century.
And although he was known as a “writer’s writer”, that book was very
mainstream and was read by all kinds of people, gay and straight.
CV| I was moved by the literary flamboyance you employed in Eminent
Maricones (University of Wisconsin Press, 1999)—in terms of your striking use of
denuding memoir and colorful biography on the other writers. Arenas was
Cuban. Puig was Argentine. Lorca was Spanish and you are Colombian. What
besides the Spanish tongue and your collective queerness is the thread that
connected you all? Is there a queer Latino/Latin-American aesthetic and was it
a motivation for writing this book?
JM |At the time I don’t think there was a Latino/Latin-American homosexual
aesthetic—maybe there is one now, though. What we did have in common was
that we were isolated figures and each very different, in many ways, in terms of
style. They were the most important homosexual writers in the Spanish language
as well. I had been fortunate to know Puig and Arenas and their lives had a really
profound effect on me as a writer. Lorca was a different story because I couldn’t
know him, but I was approached by a publisher to write a biography on him.
opinions. Did you sense that Reinaldo would become a queer icon when you
knew him, or did you suspect that his story would disappear, as has happened to
so many renegade writers ravaged by political exploitation?
Jaime Manrique | When I knew him he was already a very important Latin-
American writer—he had readers all over the world. Toward the end of his life he
gave me a manuscript draft of Before Night Falls, his most famous book, and I
realized that he’d written one of the great autobiographies of the 20th century.
And although he was known as a “writer’s writer”, that book was very
mainstream and was read by all kinds of people, gay and straight.
CV| I was moved by the literary flamboyance you employed in Eminent
Maricones (University of Wisconsin Press, 1999)—in terms of your striking use of
denuding memoir and colorful biography on the other writers. Arenas was
Cuban. Puig was Argentine. Lorca was Spanish and you are Colombian. What
besides the Spanish tongue and your collective queerness is the thread that
connected you all? Is there a queer Latino/Latin-American aesthetic and was it
a motivation for writing this book?
JM |At the time I don’t think there was a Latino/Latin-American homosexual
aesthetic—maybe there is one now, though. What we did have in common was
that we were isolated figures and each very different, in many ways, in terms of
style. They were the most important homosexual writers in the Spanish language
as well. I had been fortunate to know Puig and Arenas and their lives had a really
profound effect on me as a writer. Lorca was a different story because I couldn’t
know him, but I was approached by a publisher to write a biography on him.
| . |
When I wrote it and turned it in, it was rejected,
but I continued to work on it. So when I wrote
about Puig and Arenas, they seemed like they
could be published together. With Lorca it was
also more of a political piece of writing because
when I began researching his life, like fifteen years
ago, his homosexuality was barely acknowledged.
It was whispered about and there was family
censorship. So I wanted to deconstruct his work
and show how his homosexuality expressed itself
explicitly, and sometimes not. I wanted to write
something that once and for all showed that
Lorca was gay and that his work is not only great
in many ways, but also homosexual in nature.
CV | And also his heated affair with surrealist king
Salvador Dalí!
JM | That’s a very underwritten part of the story as well, which perhaps someone
will flesh out further.
CV | You pointed out that Lorca’s time in New York was a turning point for him, in
terms of his honesty, in regards to his gayness. He was painfully critical of New
York and bemoaned it harshly, but didn’t you point out that his work was more
open after his time here?
JM | Yes. Everything happened after New York; the love sonnets he wrote to a
man later in his life, and his two best plays, The Public and When Five Years Pass.
It was after New York that he finally came out. In the same way it could be said
that Puig also wrote his most openly homosexual books here in New York,
something he could not have done in Argentina at the time, because of death
threats. Kiss of the Spiderwoman was eventually published worldwide, including
Argentina, yet Puig never returned.
but I continued to work on it. So when I wrote
about Puig and Arenas, they seemed like they
could be published together. With Lorca it was
also more of a political piece of writing because
when I began researching his life, like fifteen years
ago, his homosexuality was barely acknowledged.
It was whispered about and there was family
censorship. So I wanted to deconstruct his work
and show how his homosexuality expressed itself
explicitly, and sometimes not. I wanted to write
something that once and for all showed that
Lorca was gay and that his work is not only great
in many ways, but also homosexual in nature.
CV | And also his heated affair with surrealist king
Salvador Dalí!
JM | That’s a very underwritten part of the story as well, which perhaps someone
will flesh out further.
CV | You pointed out that Lorca’s time in New York was a turning point for him, in
terms of his honesty, in regards to his gayness. He was painfully critical of New
York and bemoaned it harshly, but didn’t you point out that his work was more
open after his time here?
JM | Yes. Everything happened after New York; the love sonnets he wrote to a
man later in his life, and his two best plays, The Public and When Five Years Pass.
It was after New York that he finally came out. In the same way it could be said
that Puig also wrote his most openly homosexual books here in New York,
something he could not have done in Argentina at the time, because of death
threats. Kiss of the Spiderwoman was eventually published worldwide, including
Argentina, yet Puig never returned.
| . |
CV | I strongly identified with Santiago’s “double life” in
Latin Moon in Manhattan (University of Wisconsin Press,
1992)—his freer one in gay Manhattan, and his more
traditional, painful, family-oriented existence in
Queens. Latino machismo is a notorious fuel for
homophobia, but do you think things are getting better
in Spanish-speaking communities and in the Spanish
-speaking world as a whole—in terms of acceptance
and not just tolerance? El Diario-La Prensa (New York’s
biggest Spanish-language newspaper) recently came
out in favor of gay marriage, for example.
JM |It’s changed completely. People who are
homophobic, they may not be as likely to be as vocal
about it now as they were in the past. So I think that
homophobes have to think twice about expressing
their views more openly these days. When I lived in
Colombia many years ago with my lover at the time, we were the only openly
gay couple in Bogotá and probably in the whole country. There were many other
gay couples of course, but it was all secret.
CV | I read Twilight at the Equator (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003) after
reading your autobiographical opening to Eminent Maricones. How much of this
book is autobiographical?
JM | Everything we write is autobiographical, because everything we write is an
expression of our true selves and who we are. The biography itself, the way
certain events coincide with other events in my life—there are many points of
reference, but there are also things in the text that aren't autobiographical at
all, since they didn't happen. And I think that with Twilight at the Equator, the
way I saw it and what I was going through at that time in my life, I wanted it to
be something between fiction and autobiography. I don’t think there were
many writers at the time who were deliberately blurring the barriers between
Latin Moon in Manhattan (University of Wisconsin Press,
1992)—his freer one in gay Manhattan, and his more
traditional, painful, family-oriented existence in
Queens. Latino machismo is a notorious fuel for
homophobia, but do you think things are getting better
in Spanish-speaking communities and in the Spanish
-speaking world as a whole—in terms of acceptance
and not just tolerance? El Diario-La Prensa (New York’s
biggest Spanish-language newspaper) recently came
out in favor of gay marriage, for example.
JM |It’s changed completely. People who are
homophobic, they may not be as likely to be as vocal
about it now as they were in the past. So I think that
homophobes have to think twice about expressing
their views more openly these days. When I lived in
Colombia many years ago with my lover at the time, we were the only openly
gay couple in Bogotá and probably in the whole country. There were many other
gay couples of course, but it was all secret.
CV | I read Twilight at the Equator (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003) after
reading your autobiographical opening to Eminent Maricones. How much of this
book is autobiographical?
JM | Everything we write is autobiographical, because everything we write is an
expression of our true selves and who we are. The biography itself, the way
certain events coincide with other events in my life—there are many points of
reference, but there are also things in the text that aren't autobiographical at
all, since they didn't happen. And I think that with Twilight at the Equator, the
way I saw it and what I was going through at that time in my life, I wanted it to
be something between fiction and autobiography. I don’t think there were
many writers at the time who were deliberately blurring the barriers between
| . |
biography and fiction—when they inform each other they create something
more interesting than what actually happened to you. A lot of that book was
also shaped by my travels and journals.
CV |The lesbian scholar Camille Paglia recently expressed that the gay
marriage movement looks “childish” and “not sophisticated” for making radical
demands on Obama, when the world is plagued with very serious crises—such as
the global recession, the political and social upheaval in Iran, and North Korea’s
recent threats of nuclear attack. Where do you stand on this hot-button issue,
as a Colombian-born writer living in America—as someone who lived through
the AIDS crisis, which claimed so many radical voices?
JM |If gay people want to get married they should get married. Personally, I don’
t want to, but homosexual couples should have the same rights as heterosexual
couples—that’s a no-brainer. The gay movement is very white, upper middle
class, and Ivy League—and also profoundly conservative and conformist. Gays
at one time found a new identity, a new way of being in the world, but what
many are doing now is trying to replicate heterosexual models. I’m a socialist—I
grew up in Latin America during a time when Marxism was the predominant
philosophy. I see the family as an oppressive and patriarchal unit that mirrors the
repression of the establishment. Many families are like mini repressive states.
That’s not to say that I don’t love many people in my family. When I was growing
up I was more interested in the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and
Simone de Beauvoir. They loved each other, screwed other people, and never
got married, they didn't even live together—but they were completely loyal to
each other. In a way that seems to me a more admirable kind of marriage.
CV | Can you tell us a little bit about what you are working on now?
JM | For the last ten years I've been writing historical novels. The most recent
one was about the struggle for independence in South America and now I’m
writing a novel about Cervantes—but in a way they’re not that different. I don’t
think Cervantes was homosexual by any means—I don’t think the idea was even
more interesting than what actually happened to you. A lot of that book was
also shaped by my travels and journals.
CV |The lesbian scholar Camille Paglia recently expressed that the gay
marriage movement looks “childish” and “not sophisticated” for making radical
demands on Obama, when the world is plagued with very serious crises—such as
the global recession, the political and social upheaval in Iran, and North Korea’s
recent threats of nuclear attack. Where do you stand on this hot-button issue,
as a Colombian-born writer living in America—as someone who lived through
the AIDS crisis, which claimed so many radical voices?
JM |If gay people want to get married they should get married. Personally, I don’
t want to, but homosexual couples should have the same rights as heterosexual
couples—that’s a no-brainer. The gay movement is very white, upper middle
class, and Ivy League—and also profoundly conservative and conformist. Gays
at one time found a new identity, a new way of being in the world, but what
many are doing now is trying to replicate heterosexual models. I’m a socialist—I
grew up in Latin America during a time when Marxism was the predominant
philosophy. I see the family as an oppressive and patriarchal unit that mirrors the
repression of the establishment. Many families are like mini repressive states.
That’s not to say that I don’t love many people in my family. When I was growing
up I was more interested in the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and
Simone de Beauvoir. They loved each other, screwed other people, and never
got married, they didn't even live together—but they were completely loyal to
each other. In a way that seems to me a more admirable kind of marriage.
CV | Can you tell us a little bit about what you are working on now?
JM | For the last ten years I've been writing historical novels. The most recent
one was about the struggle for independence in South America and now I’m
writing a novel about Cervantes—but in a way they’re not that different. I don’t
think Cervantes was homosexual by any means—I don’t think the idea was even
| . |
perceived at the time. But, he was very much an outsider. He spent many years
of his life in jail and suffered as a lower-class boy in Spain—and perhaps also
because he was Jewish. So it’s the idea of the outsider that attracts me and it’s
what I've always tried to be—to question everything. I think that this is what
Paglia is talking about. I’m not attacking parenthood, but I don’t want to spend
my life going to church and to PTA meetings when we have so much injustice,
famines, and wars raging all around us.
------------------------------------------------------
Jaime Manrique’s books can be purchased here: http://www.amazon.
com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Jaime+Manrique
Photo by: Ghassan Zeineddine, Oran, Algeria, 2007
CLICK HERE for more Charlie Vázquez
Copyright 2009| Ambiente. Do not reproduce without prior authorization.
of his life in jail and suffered as a lower-class boy in Spain—and perhaps also
because he was Jewish. So it’s the idea of the outsider that attracts me and it’s
what I've always tried to be—to question everything. I think that this is what
Paglia is talking about. I’m not attacking parenthood, but I don’t want to spend
my life going to church and to PTA meetings when we have so much injustice,
famines, and wars raging all around us.
------------------------------------------------------
Jaime Manrique’s books can be purchased here: http://www.amazon.
com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Jaime+Manrique
Photo by: Ghassan Zeineddine, Oran, Algeria, 2007
CLICK HERE for more Charlie Vázquez
Copyright 2009| Ambiente. Do not reproduce without prior authorization.