Virgilio Piñera / Belisario

Tiger by Triunfo Arciniegas

Belisario

by Virgilio Piñera

BIOGRAPHY

Translated by Mark Schafer

The tiger had to be given a person’s name. Seeing as he could speak, that he expressed himself correctly and properly, it would have been impolite and even an affront to call him by the name of his species or, even more humiliating, name him like a dog: Scout or Rex . . . . So, it was agreed that he would be called Belisario—Belisario Martínez.

His secretary knocked on the door of his office.

“May I, Mr. Belisario?”

“Do come in,” an affectionate voice replied.

Virgilio Piñera / A Deal with the Devil

A Deal with the Devil

by Virgilio Piñera
BIOGRAPHY

I stopped seeing her about a year , at that time I thought I she had very little time to live, she had seventy years old but looked like one hundred, torture of senile love and materially failed habíanla undone .

One evening I felt called , named from a car . Before it I recognized her voice. It was her, but transformed. He invited me for a ride . Beside me was a woman in her thirties , as they say, full of life.

Virgilio Piñera / The Mountain

El gigante
Arte callejero
La Habana, 2015
Fotografía de Triunfo Arciniegas

THE MOUNTAIN
by Virgilio Piñera
BIOGRAPHY

Translated by Daniel W. Koon

The mountain is three thousand feet tall. I have decided to eat it, bit by bit. It is a mountain like any other: vegetation, rocks, soil, animals and even humans beings that walk up and down its slopes. 

Every morning I throw myself upon it and start chewing on the first thing that crosses my path. I spend several hours at this. I return home with my body exhausted and my jaws distended. After a brief rest I sit in the doorway and gaze into the blue distance. 

If I told my neighbor about it he would surely laugh himself silly and take me for a madman. But being aware of what I am doing, I can very clearly see the mountain losing both heft and height. Soon they will be blaming geological disturbances. 

And that’s my tragedy: nobody will want to admit that it was I who was the devourer of the three-thousand-foot-tall mountain.

1957.

Virgilio Piñera / Swimming

SWIMMING

by Virgilio Piñera
BIOGRAPHY

Translated by Daniel W. Koon

I have learned to swim on dry land. It turns out to be better than doing it in the water. There is no fear of sinking because you are already at the bottom, and by the same logic, you are already drowned beforehand. You also avoid having to be fished out by the light of a lantern or in the dazzling light of a beautiful day. Finally, the absence of water keeps your body from swelling up.

I am not going to deny that swimming on dry land resembles the agony of dying. At first glimpse one would imagine that you are in the throes of death. Still, it is quite different: at the same time that you are fighting off death you are quite alive, quite alert, hearing the music that comes in through the windows and watching the worm that is crawling along the ground.

At first my friends disapproved of my choice. They evaded my glance and cried secretly. Fortunately, that crisis has passed. Now they know that I feel comfortable swimming on dry land. Occasionally I dip my hands into the marble tiles and hand them a tiny fish which I have trapped in the underwater depths.

1957

Virgilio Piñera / Insomnia

Monstruo con flor
Arte callejero
La Habana, 2015
Fotografía de Triunfo Arciniegas

INSOMNIA

by Virgilio Piñera
BIOGRAPHY

Translated by Daniel W. Koon

The man goes to bed early. He cannot sleep. Naturally he tosses and turns in bed. He gets tangled up in the sheets. He lights a cigarette. He reads a little. He turns out the light again. But he cannot sleep. At three in the morning he gets up. He wakes his friend by his side and confides in him that he cannot sleep. He asks for advice. The friend suggests he take a short walk to tire himself out a little. That he then drink a cup of linden tea and turn out the light. He does all these things but he still cannot manage to fall asleep. He gets up once more. This time he goes to the doctor. As usual, the doctor has a lot to say, but the man does not fall asleep. At six in the morning he loads his revolver and lifts it to his forehead. The man is dead but he still has not been able to doze off. Insomnia is a very persistent condition.

1956