Virgilio Piñera

About the author

Virgilio Piñera was a Cuban poet, playwright, short-story writer, essayist, and translator whose spare, often darkly comic work made absurdity feel close to everyday life. La carne de René (René’s Flesh) turns the body into a site of social pressure and grotesque transformation; his poems, plays, and stories extend that unsettling vision across forms. His writing also bears the mark of a difficult relationship with official cultural power in Cuba.