La carne de René, a thesis novel

Abstract

Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979) relates in this work the obsessions that affect him greatly, and especially his fixation by the body and the pain that can be apply to him; The Flesh of Rene (1952) is a constant, clear and unambiguous sign of this obsession. His life experience in 20th century Cuba, immersed in repression, his personal struggle against institutions and his attempts to make his voice heard above them, keep him in a permanent state of tension, stigmatization and suffering as the staring of his roman. This thesis novel is the clear representation of the internal struggle of Virgilio Piñera, and this article tries to demonstrate how our author pursues the idea that the body must be educated in the pain to be able to persist. Who is able to bear it with integrity, is able to maintain his dignity. The repressive society tries to take away from it to make it a citizen-object devoid of individuality and a run of the mill through the rite of initiation to pain. Being the torture of the body and the mind the central idea of ​​the work, Piñera tries to move the reader from the anxiety of suffering, to the fascination for him, and gradually to feel desire for pain, the only means of coping with this life. For a better understanding of these fundamentals, we will highlight three intelectuals: Maurice Blanchot explains how a present anguish about past pain affects the future; Mircea Elíade speaks about his thesis on initiation rites in repressive communities; And Tzvetan Todorov also insofar as pain is not only physical but also psychological.