Money and Commodities in Virgilio Piñera's La Carne de René

Abstract

Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera published his first novel, a bizarre coming-of-age tale, in 1953. Critics have considered La carne de René an absurdist text, a commentary about homosociality and alienation. The author, however, argues that the abstract structures of capitalism, specifically money and fetish commodities, provide the backbone for the novel and dictate all human relations in it.

Keywords:

• capitalism
• commodities
• Cuban writer
• fetish
• homosociality
• money
• Virgilio Piñera