Virgilio Piñera Llera (August 4, 1912 – October 18, 1979) was a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n author,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, short story writer, essayist and translator. His best known works are the poem ''La isla en peso'' (1943), the collection of short stories ''Cuentos Fríos'' (1956), the novel ''La carne de René'' (1952) and the play ''Electra Garrigó'' (1959). He is also known for his role in the translation into Spanish of the novel '' Ferdydurke'', by Polish writer

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalism, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937, ...

. Piñera is one of the most celebrated authors of

Cuban literature Cuban literature is the literature written in Cuba or outside the island by Cubans in Spanish language. It began to find its voice in the early 19th century. The major works published in Cuba during that time were of an abolitionist character. Not ...

. His work explores alienation, absurd and madness, featuring characters that often find themselves in ridiculous and grotesque scenarios. He was openly

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

; however, born into a Christian family, Piñera struggled with guilt and later, after the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, with the government's ostracism. Nevertheless, Piñera's work was rediscovered by Cuban and Latin American authors such as Severo Sarduy, Víctor Fowler, Rolando Sánchez and Ricardo Piglia. His works were reedited on his 100th centenary and a commission presided by Antón Arrufat organized a colloquium in his honour.

Biography

Early life

Virgilio Piñera was born in

Cárdenas, Cuba San Juan de Dios de Cárdenas, or simply Cárdenas (), is a municipality and city in the Matanzas Province of Cuba, about by air by roadeast of Havana. Cárdenas is the 15th most-populated Cuban city and the second most populated one not being ...

. In 1925, he and his family moved to

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 333,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by Sp ...

, where he obtained his high school diploma. In 1938, he established himself in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.University of Havana The University of Havana (UH; ) is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originall ...

in 1940. Beginning the previous year, he began to publish his poems in the literary magazine ''Espuela de plata'' (Silver Spur), the predecessor to ''Orígenes''. In 1941, he wrote his first collection of poems, ''Las furias'' (The Furies), and his best known play, ''Electra Garrigó''. The latter was premiered in Havana eight years later and was poorly received by the press. In 1942, Piñera founded and headed the magazine ''Poeta'' (Poet). The following year, he published ''La isla en peso'' (The Weight of the Island), subsequently regarded as one of the heights of Cuban literature, but in its time the object of scorn from fellow poets Gastón Baquero, Eliseo Diego, and critics such as Cintio Vitier. Together with José Lezama Lima and José Rodríguez Feo, he founded ''Orígenes'', despite his aesthetic disagreements with them. Among his most notable contributions were a number of poems, an essay titled ''El secreto de Kafka'' (The Secret of Kafka), and another essay on Argentine literature.

Residency in Argentina

In February 1946, Piñera traveled to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, where he would remain on and off until 1958, working for the Cuban Embassy as a proofreader and translator.Biblioteca de Traducciones Hispanoamericanas
/ref> While in Argentina, he forged friendships with

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

Victoria Ocampo Ramona Victoria Epifanía Rufina Ocampo (7 April 1890 – 27 January 1979) was an Argentine writer and intellectual. Best known as an advocate for others and as publisher of the literary magazine '' Sur'', she was also a writer and critic in he ...

, Graziella Peyrou, and

José Bianco José Bianco (1908–1986) was an Argentine essayist, translator, and writer. Bianco made translations of works by Henry James, Jean-Paul Sartre, François Mauriac, Julien Benda, and Ambrose Bierce, among others. Bianco began his career with ...

. Bianco contributed the foreword to Piñera's collection of short stories, ''El que vino a salvarme'' (The One Who Came to Save Me), published by Editorial Sudamericana. Piñera also became friendly with

and presided, with the help of Cuban writer Humberto Rodríguez Tomeu, the committee that translated '' Ferdydurke'' into Spanish. During this period, he wrote his plays ''Jesús'' and ''Falsa alarma'' (False Alarm). Piñera's first novel, ''La carne de René'' (René's Flesh), was published in 1952. Three years later, after a bitter dispute among the co-founders led to the closure of ''Orígenes'', he founded his final magazine, ''Ciclón'' (Cyclone). He would also occasionally contribute to '' Sur'', as well as to the French magazines '' Lettres Nouvelles'' and ''

Les Temps modernes ''Les Temps Modernes'' () was a French journal, founded by Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Its first issue was published in October 1945. It was named after the 1936 film by Charlie Chaplin. ''Les Temps Moderne ...

''.

Censorship in Cuba

In 1958, he left Argentina and settled permanently in Cuba. He arrived there shortly before the

and contributed to the newspaper '' Revolución'' and its supplement '' Lunes de Revolución''. In 1960, he staged ''Electra Garrigó'' once again and published his complete plays. In 1968, he received Premio Casa de las Américas for the play ''Dos viejos pánicos'' (Two Old Panics), which would not be performed in Cuba until the 1990s. Virgilio Piñera was arrested in the Night of the Three Ps in 1961 and briefly detained, but was released shortly after due to international pressure. Beginning in 1971, Piñera was ostracized by the Cuban government and literary establishment because of his sharply divergent ideological beliefs and his homosexuality.Martín Sevillano, Ana Belé
"De Virgilio Piñera a Reinaldo Arenas: homosexualidad o disidencia"
en ''Revista Hispano Cubana'' He died on October 18, 1979, and his remains were buried in his native Cárdenas.

English-language translations

* ''René's Flesh'', translated by Mark Schafer. Foreword by Antón Arrufat. Eridanos Press, 1988. * ''Cold Tales'', translated by Mark Schafer. Introduction by Guillermo Cabrera-Infante. Eridanos Press, 1988. * ''Electra Garrigó'', translated by Margaret Carson. In ''Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin American Theater and Performance'', ed. Diana Taylor and Sarah J. Townsend. Ann Arbor: U Michigan Press, 2008.

References

External links

Website in Spanish and Portuguese

''Electra Garrigó,''
companion webpage to English translation in ''Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin American Theater and Performance'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinera, Virgilo 1912 births 1979 deaths Cuban dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Cuban poets Cuban gay writers Cuban LGBTQ poets Cuban LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay poets 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Cuban male dramatists and playwrights Cuban male poets 20th-century Cuban male writers People from Cárdenas, Cuba Cuban fantasy writers Cuban short story writers 20th-century Cuban LGBTQ people Political prisoners in Cuba