Letter from M. Barnet to H. W. Henze, December 11, 1983

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December 11, 1983 Querido Hans

Finally I have settled down in the address that I will
give you right away: M.B. Charles St. No. 12 apt. 5C N.Y. 10014,
it is a nice place, near NYU and Washington Square Park.* So as
you can imagine I have to b‡e very caref‡ull with drug adcits[sic]‡ that
walk around here, but, howeve‡r my place is charming, quiet and ve-
ry secure becaus‡e I even have a doorman and many locks in‡ my door.
You know N.Y. is dangerous and for me, with the cuban‡ gangs of anti-
revolutionarys‡ I have to take more security measures.*

Hans,‡ I was in g ‡ G‡ermany during the month of october‡. It was wonder-
full‡ because I travelled all trh‡ough‡ the country– 13 cities in 30
days– My people at Surkham[sic]‡ are happy with the success of my books
there so they wanted me to talk everywhere.* You know that helps
promotion and at the same time ma‡de it beautiful for me to go
aga‡in to places like Hamburg, Cologne and Nuremberg that I love
so much. Especially Dureros‡ house and the overwhelming wall of the
city. Whenever I go to Germany I remember you verymmuch[sic]‡, because
althoug‡ we are more th‡an friends I al‡ways say with pride that you
are my most beloved german‡ friend. So going to your country is like
entering your secrets and your childhood.

I will be in New York until april‡ because I am a receipe‡ of a Gu-
ggenhein Fellowship. I think I wrote to you about that, didn‡t‡ I?*
Anyway th‡is letter is to offer you my hu‡mble house in N.Y.
And to remind you that you are always prese‡nt in my projects.
I, finally, coul‡d not go to Europe last year, as I had planned.*
The relations between my government and West Berlin are tough and [I]
did not want to create more trouble.* I should explain this to you
when I see you. I hope it could be soon. Please if you can, come
to N.Y. I wil‡l love to see you and talk to you. Hans, I left Ro-
gelio very dissapointed‡ because he was planning to go to Lybia‡ to
work and by chance come wiht‡ a special permission to see you in
Marino.* But I left Havana in October the 1st‡ * and up to then he has
no news about such trip. He is and[sic]‡ admirable person with the most
solid principles and the most constant love to you. Hans, brother,
give a kiss to Fausto and to the rest of the family, including
your marvelous perritos.

And for all my deep and permanent love.
Miguelito

Editorial

Responsibilities

Editor(s)
Elena Minetti
Transcription
Elena Minetti; Joachim Veit

Tradition

  • Text Source: Basel (Schweiz), Paul Sacher Stiftung (CH-Bps), Sammlung Hans Werner Henze, Abteilung: Korrespondenz
    Shelf mark: Barnet, Miguel

    Physical Description

    • Document type: Letter

      • Material

    • weißes Briefpapier mittlerer Dicke
    • Faltung: 2mal längs, 1mal quer (in Achtel)

      • Extent

    • 1 folio
    • 1 written page
    • Dimensions: 280x216 [mm] (HxW)
      •

      Layout

    • Rand links ca. 2,8cm
    • erste Zeile Text 7 Anschläge (ca. 2,7cm) eingerückt
    • Datum in schwarzem Kugelschreiber oben rechts, Unterschrift etwas schräg unten rechts ebenso
    • Flatterrand links, bis max. 1,5cm vom Rand beschrieben

Writing styles

Text Constitution

  • 1.
    Following: handwritten, ballpoint pen (black), Barnet, Miguel
  • 2.
    Following: Typescript, Barnet, Miguel
  • 3.
    "b""v" replaced with "b"
  • 4.
    "ef""fe" replaced with "ef"
  • 5.
    "adcits"sic
  • 6.
    "e""r" replaced with "e"
  • 7.
    "us""se" replaced with "us"
  • 8.
    ","added inline, handwritten, ballpoint pen (black), Barnet, Miguel
  • 9.
    " g ""!" overtyped with " g "
  • 10.
    "G""!" replaced with "G"
  • 11.
    "h""o" replaced with "h"
  • 12.
    "Surkham"sic
  • 13.
    "a""c" replaced with "a"
  • 14.
    "a""i" replaced with "a"
  • 15.
    "verymmuch"sic
  • 16.
    "h""a" replaced with "h"
  • 17.
    "l""s" replaced with "l"
  • 18.
    "dn""nd" replaced with "dn"
  • 19.
    "h"added above
  • 20.
    "u""i" replaced with "u"
  • 21.
    "e""n" replaced with "e"
  • 22.
    "l""d" replaced with "l"
  • 23.
    "l""k" replaced with "l"
  • 24.
    "and"sic
  • 25.
    Following: handwritten, ballpoint pen (black), Barnet, Miguel

Commentary

  • 1.
    "… and Washington Square Park ."Between autumn 1983 and spring 1984 Barnet lived in New York as recipient of a Fellowship of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. There, he researched the Cuban emigrant experience for writing his fourth testimonial novel La vida real (1986). See Martin Franzbach, "Die mehrfache Lehre der »novela testimonio«: Miguel Barnet".
  • 2.
    "in"recte "on".
  • 3.
    "cuban"recte "Cuban".
  • 4.
    "revolutionarys"recte "revolutionaries".
  • 5.
    "… to take more security measures."Here, Barnet is probably referring to the "Marielitos", the criminal Cuban gangs known for drug trafficking that spread in the United States from the 1980s onwards.
  • 6.
    "october"recte "October".
  • 7.
    "wonder full"recte "wonderful".
  • 8.
    "tr o h ough"recte "through".
  • 9.
    "… wanted me to talk everywhere."Barnet’s publisher had evidently invited him to Germany, probably to present Der Cimarrón, published by Suhrkamp in 1976, Alle träumten von Kuba, published in 1981 and Das Lied der Rachel, published in 1983.
  • 10.
    "Dureros"recte "Dürer’s".
  • 11.
    "althoug"recte "although".
  • 12.
    "german"recte "German".
  • 13.
    "april"recte "April".
  • 14.
    "receipe"recte "recipient".
  • 15.
    "di nd dn t"recte "didn’t".
  • 16.
    "… that, di dn t I?"In the letters located to date, Barnet had yet to tell Henze about the scholarship.
  • 17.
    "… year, as I had planned."This sentence confirms that Barnet was not able to return to Europe in 1982 after his spring trip. See Barnet’s letter and Henze’s letter of reply of 19 July 1982.
  • 18.
    "… want to create more trouble."An earlier letter already showed how Barnet’s destinations and participations were authorised by the Cuban government, which were strictly evaluated according to alliance or antagonism according to Cold War relations.
  • 19.
    "dissapointed"recte "disappointed".
  • 20.
    "Lybia"recte "Libya".
  • 21.
    "wiht"recte "with".
  • 22.
    "… see you in Marino ."From Barnet’s letter of 15 December 1984, it is inferred that Rodríguez was in Libya. There is no evidence to suggest that Rodríguez went to visit Henze in Marino.
  • 23.
    "lst"regularized to "1st".
  • 24.
    "… in October the lst 1st"Barnet appears to have arrived in New York directly from Europe, without passing through Cuba again.
  • 25.
    perritos
    • little dogs

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