(finally posted)And now, having mentioned or invoked him and his work via his peers or poets of successive generations who write under his star, I present Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979), poet, playwright of the highest acclaim, and equally acclaimed author of several novels, including René's Flesh (La carne de René), he spent his last decades esteemed by some fellow writers, especially younger ones, and some critics, and a persona non grata to the government. Earlier he had been a member of the circle around the literary journal Orígenes, which also included Lezama Lima, and, during his stay in Argentina, had befriended and translated the work of Witold Gombrowicz, which also influenced several subsequent generations. Piñera's outspokenness on social and sexual issues was ahead of its time, as was his art, but no one with a distinctive vision can worry about that: as he himself writes below: "So I was, so I lived / so I dreamed." Indeed.
TESTAMENTO
Como he sido iconoclasta
me niego a que me hagan estatua:
si en la vida he sido carne,
en la muerte no quiero ser mármol.
Como yo soy de un lugar
de demonios y de ángeles,
en ángel y demonio muerto
seguiré por esas calles…
En tal eternidad veré
nuevos demonios y ángeles,
con ellos conversaré
en un lenguaje cifrado.
Y todos entenderán
el yo no lloro, mi hermano….
Así fui, así viví,
así soñé. Pasé el trance.
Copyright © 2008, the estate of Virgilio Piñera. All rights reserved.
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