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A Hunger Artist
The last book published during Kafka's lifetime, A Hunger Artist (1924) explores many of the themes that were close to him: spiritual poverty, asceticism, futility, and the alienation of the modern artist.
He edited the manuscript just before his death, and these four stories are some of his best known and most powerful work, marking his maturity as a writer. In addition to "First Sorrow," "A Little Woman," and "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse People" is the title story, "A Hunger Artist," which has been called by the critic Heinz Politzer "a perfection, a fatal fulfillment that expresses Kafka's desire for permanence."
The three volumes Twisted Spoon Press has published: Contemplation, A Country Doctor, and A Hunger Artist are the collections of stories that Kafka had published during his lifetime. Though each volume has its own distinctive character, they have most often appeared in English in collected editions. They are presented here as separate editions, in new translations by Kevin Blahut, each with its own illustrator from the Prague community.
He edited the manuscript just before his death, and these four stories are some of his best known and most powerful work, marking his maturity as a writer. In addition to "First Sorrow," "A Little Woman," and "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse People" is the title story, "A Hunger Artist," which has been called by the critic Heinz Politzer "a perfection, a fatal fulfillment that expresses Kafka's desire for permanence."
The three volumes Twisted Spoon Press has published: Contemplation, A Country Doctor, and A Hunger Artist are the collections of stories that Kafka had published during his lifetime. Though each volume has its own distinctive character, they have most often appeared in English in collected editions. They are presented here as separate editions, in new translations by Kevin Blahut, each with its own illustrator from the Prague community.
84 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1924
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About the author
Franz Kafka
3,263 books37.9k followersPrague-born writer Franz Kafka wrote in German, and his stories, such as "
The Metamorphosis
" (1916), and posthumously published novels, including
The Trial
(1925), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world.
Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature.
His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors.
Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.
Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard.
Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera.
Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.
Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature.
His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors.
Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.
Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard.
Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera.
Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,574 reviews
July 31, 2022
What he did for fame. What he did to prove himself. How some people take things to extremes and then find the thing itself has taken them over. How pointless it is to die for something so petty. How perhaps the clarity of imminent mortality makes the protagonist confess the true reason for his self-starvation. If he did, if it was.
Or if it was really about that at all? Was it really about the existential pleasure of living for the day and enjoying what there is? Or perhaps it was about if a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to see it... A novella, or a long short story it is of infinite depth and endless interpretation. But then that's the genius of Kafka all over.
Updated 10 May 2015
Or if it was really about that at all? Was it really about the existential pleasure of living for the day and enjoying what there is? Or perhaps it was about if a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to see it... A novella, or a long short story it is of infinite depth and endless interpretation. But then that's the genius of Kafka all over.
Updated 10 May 2015
September 12, 2025
He, who had been cheered by thousands, could not now show himself in booths in little travelling fairs, and as far as taking another profession was concerned, the hunger-artist was not only too old, but, still more, he was too fanatically devoted to starvation.
Inside his cage of his own free will, the hunger artist may do as he pleases. The hunger-artist whose art has suffered marked decline over last a few years. What sort of art we are bothering ourselves about. The art of starving yourself passionately without any sort of discomfort or dissatisfaction over it and we have people who are endowed with skills and strongest of the desires to perform such an art. Our hunger-artist here is an unusual man, for starving is the easiest thing for him in the world, it comes as naturally to him as any reflex action. And he makes no bones about saying so either but people don’t believe him, for it comes across something un-natural to them. The hunger-artist has been doing it for time-immemorial with such finesse and ease that his whole existence lingers upon on it, for he has dug his inner self with such a burning desire to carve out his artistic demons who could only be satisfied when he fully dedicates himself to the art even if that means his life. As a true artist should live a life built upon his devotion to his art and asceticism characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures to realize his spiritual being, our hunger-artist starves himself as he has once dreamed of doing, and he succeeds quite effortlessly as he has once predicted; but no one counts days, no one know how great his achievement is, not even the hunger-artist himself, and his heart grows heavy when the realization comes upon him.
The hunger artist reaches epitome of his creative heights but evidently unsatisfied with his work and frustrated by both his manager and his audiences, who never fully appreciate his true talent or the purity of his aesthetic art. The art has become not simply a sacrificial death (which reminds me of Japanese practice of Seppuku) of the artist, but also an act of self-destruction and physical torture which leads to death. For the hunger artist, his desire for artistic perfection is stronger than physical needs. In his sense of frustration with himself and his feelings of isolation from the world outside the "cage" (which is in termed as his cage of his free will but is it really free will) in which he fasts, the hunger artist struggles internally so much so that his soul torments vehemently to produce tears of existential malaise. The man pays extraordinary and unparalleled attention to his occupation, considering himself to be a craftsman, whose heart beats for purity of his art, instead of an insignificant bazaar crack. Humiliation and embarrassment of paramount multitude surrounds him at any recommendation that his art probably won't be valid, that when nobody watches, he may take sustenance for his bodily needs, for what is more significant than the righteousness of his art. As a major aspect of the demonstration, consistently a few people are standing watchman at his enclosure to ensure he's not deceiving world, which irritates and infuriates him so much so that he despises such world which exists outside his ‘cage’. There's nothing more essential to a artist than the integrity of his very art. The hunger-artist is living in a time when interest in fasting as a source of amusement is beginning to dwindle. The essence of his life-his vocation- is reduced to nothingness by the cruel, unsympathetic world, the very purpose, his has devised for his inherently meaningless life, has been snatched away from him. Eventually, the hunger artist is reduced to a non-being who ultimately strikes the omnipotent bars of death which perhaps is not strong enough to move savage and antagonistic eyes of the world.
The most notable characteristic is not the fact of doom but the un-wearying zigzagging of consciousness, the manner that streams and counter-streams of logic are pushed this way and that. The words used by Kafka are little, unduly and fussy which essentially means that Kafka offers very little to the translator, there is no voice, no diction, no style- like in literary sense, which makes translation of his works a quite challenging job so as not to produce verbiage of words in English which might have totally opposite effect to the dry impact Kafka intended, for he chose a very subtle and ironically conservative style. You will find that each word is written with a careful and measured precision wherein you can’t miss even a single word since the effect of whole narrative would have changed. It’s like gospel of human existence which should be read as a careful meditation of human condition.
A Hunger Artist" is a familiar space from Kafka’s universe in which well-known themes of death, art, isolation, asceticism, spiritual poverty, futility, personal failure and the corruption of human relationships are being exploited to their full might. The story may be said to be an allegory, which interestingly may be representing quite different things. The hunger artist's asceticism may transforms him to Christ-like figure who suffers for his vocation but world does not understand him. Our hunger-artist may be a misunderstood artist, whose vision of transcendence and artistic excellence is rejected or ignored by the public. These interpretation allures the autobiographical traits of the story. Regardless of whether the hero's destitute is viewed as otherworldly or imaginative, the panther is viewed as the hunger-artist’s antithesis: fulfilled and placated, the creature's corporeality, who seems to bring its own freedom with it unlike the hunger-artist, remains in stamped complexity to the yearning hunger-artist's ethereality. A last interpretive division encompasses the issue of whether "A Hunger Artist" is intended to be perused ironically as most of the works of Kafka are.
Kafka, however "A Hunger Artist", demonstrates that the world's lack of interest to the dominance of style might be malignant for the powerless artist's spirit. Art itself is certainly not a damaging force. Be that as it may, when an artist battles for acknowledgment and is prepared to be excitement for inquisitive onlookers, this sort of altruism is useless, regardless of whether it is veiled as a love to art.
’Because I couldn’t find any food I liked. If I had found any, believe me, I wouldn’t have made any fuss, and I would have eaten to my heart’s content, just like you or anyone else.’
September 21, 2018
When . . . some leisurely passer-by stopped . . . and spoke of cheating, that was in its way the stupidest lie ever invented by indifference and inborn malice, since it was not the hunger artist who was cheating, he was working honestly, but the world was cheating him of his reward.
The main character is a professional, fasting artist. His manager takes him from town to town across Europe, locks him in a straw filled cage for forty days, and advertises his feat of hunger, drawing large crowds. He becomes indignant when the town would assign men, usually butchers, to watch him to make sure he is not cheating. As time goes on, interest in his form of entertainment wains, and he ends up working for a circus, still fasting, but now his cage is nestled among the wild animals outside the main arena.
Why would anyone want to be a professional hunger artist? Interesting that he refers to himself as an artist, which would imply creating something or doing something. I’m not sure not doing something really counts, but it shows how he sees himself and why he is so indignant when people do not recognize his sacrifice for his art. So pride is a big part of what drives him to starve himself. He wants to show the world that he can deprive himself, and he wishes he could go longer than forty days, but part of the spectacle is the ending of the fast when people watch him removed from the cage and put before his first meal.
He admits something that also changes the perception of what he does. “If I had found [the food I liked], believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else.” So giving up food isn’t really a sacrifice for him, not in the way it would be for me, anyway. I’m sure he still has the gnawing hunger and the flurries of desperations that accompany the craving for food.
I understand someone fasting to bring attention to an injustice, maybe their own; maybe they have been unjustly incarcerated. Gandhi might be one of the most famous “hunger artists,” but he was trying to change the world. Going to see someone intentionally depriving himself of food to entertain people is about as interesting to me as going to see a beheading or a hanging. I don’t see other people’s misfortunes, or in the case of the hunger artist someone intentionally torturing themselves, as a form of amusement for myself. Paul Theroux talks about people going on “safari” in Africa to experience what he calls poverty porn. They would intentionally drive into the poverty stricken areas of Africa to see the desperate situations in which the very poorest people on earth are trying to exist, trying not to die from hunger or exposure due to drought, civil war, or any number of reasons beyond their control.
* A bone shaking shudder along with a healthy dose of loathing for those entertained by poverty.*
Franz Kafka by R. Crumb.
The moral of this story revolves around the pitfalls of the hunger artist’s pride. I also believe that Franz Kafka is casting a light on those who are entertained by his starvation. This short story is considered one of his masterpieces, which as I was writing this review and accessing my emotional response to the story, I have to say, mission accomplished, Mr. Kafka. It is so tragic that he died at age 40, long before he reached the zenith of his abilities. What masterpieces died with him when the final flicker of neurons in his brilliant brain went dark forever?
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The main character is a professional, fasting artist. His manager takes him from town to town across Europe, locks him in a straw filled cage for forty days, and advertises his feat of hunger, drawing large crowds. He becomes indignant when the town would assign men, usually butchers, to watch him to make sure he is not cheating. As time goes on, interest in his form of entertainment wains, and he ends up working for a circus, still fasting, but now his cage is nestled among the wild animals outside the main arena.
Why would anyone want to be a professional hunger artist? Interesting that he refers to himself as an artist, which would imply creating something or doing something. I’m not sure not doing something really counts, but it shows how he sees himself and why he is so indignant when people do not recognize his sacrifice for his art. So pride is a big part of what drives him to starve himself. He wants to show the world that he can deprive himself, and he wishes he could go longer than forty days, but part of the spectacle is the ending of the fast when people watch him removed from the cage and put before his first meal.
He admits something that also changes the perception of what he does. “If I had found [the food I liked], believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else.” So giving up food isn’t really a sacrifice for him, not in the way it would be for me, anyway. I’m sure he still has the gnawing hunger and the flurries of desperations that accompany the craving for food.
I understand someone fasting to bring attention to an injustice, maybe their own; maybe they have been unjustly incarcerated. Gandhi might be one of the most famous “hunger artists,” but he was trying to change the world. Going to see someone intentionally depriving himself of food to entertain people is about as interesting to me as going to see a beheading or a hanging. I don’t see other people’s misfortunes, or in the case of the hunger artist someone intentionally torturing themselves, as a form of amusement for myself. Paul Theroux talks about people going on “safari” in Africa to experience what he calls poverty porn. They would intentionally drive into the poverty stricken areas of Africa to see the desperate situations in which the very poorest people on earth are trying to exist, trying not to die from hunger or exposure due to drought, civil war, or any number of reasons beyond their control.
* A bone shaking shudder along with a healthy dose of loathing for those entertained by poverty.*
Franz Kafka by R. Crumb.
The moral of this story revolves around the pitfalls of the hunger artist’s pride. I also believe that Franz Kafka is casting a light on those who are entertained by his starvation. This short story is considered one of his masterpieces, which as I was writing this review and accessing my emotional response to the story, I have to say, mission accomplished, Mr. Kafka. It is so tragic that he died at age 40, long before he reached the zenith of his abilities. What masterpieces died with him when the final flicker of neurons in his brilliant brain went dark forever?
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
October 23, 2018
These four stories capture how easily art can drive the artist to death.
Kafka is so good at what he does, but these have a slightly different flavour too them. They’re not what you would term as directly Kafkaesque; they have nightmarish qualities and oppressive undertones to them, but the characters are not aware of their sufferings. They don’t feel trapped like K. did in The Trial. They don’t know that they are being consumed by their own pursuit for brilliance within their respective disciplines. They feel normal.
But it is very clear to the reader that they are not normal. The direction they are taking will one day destroy them in one way or another. They are caged by their art because one day it will kill them because they cannot stop perfecting it. The title story, A Hunger Artist, is the one that develops these themes most strongly. There are suggestions in the others, though that may be because I read A Hunger Artist first and had its weird brilliance lingering on my mind. So I’m going to focus on it in particular.
I’ve never even heard of the concept of a hunger artist before and I found myself researching them to see if they were a real thing. They sound like a Kafka creation, but in a way the story seemed so real I had my doubts. And as it turns out they are real. Hunger artist were performers (most likely part of a circus) that were quite popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Their act, their art, was to starve themselves. They would sit in a cage and not eat for days and weeks why people would come and watch them to see how long they could last. Such a practice sounds extremely dangerous, and I do wonder at the psychology of such a thing. These men would have pushed themselves into anorexia and near to death.
- A Hunger Artist, locked in his cage.
The audience would mark the days for the artist and watch him to ensure that he didn’t sneakily eat any food and that he was genuine throughout. The prospect of doing so, for Kafka’s artist, is revolting. He could never imagine betraying his calling and sinking so low as to be a fake artist. The very thought offends him as he is proud of the forty days he can go without food. He’s done it many times and after each time (where he is force fed when he is let out of his cage because he always refuses it) he finds himself wishing he could take it further and last longer, and perhaps never eat food again. So, he does, I think you can probably guess the ending. Kafka delivered in masterfully all the same.
In a way, I think Kafka has used the story as an allegory for writing (and perhaps other forms of art.) There are so many creative types out their who push themselves so far to make something extraordinary. But they are unrecognised and unappreciated as Kafka was in his lifetime. Their art is wasted so they work themselves to death to better it (or perhaps, and more likely, as they are consumed my it.)
Excellent writing – I really need to read more Kafka!
Kafka is so good at what he does, but these have a slightly different flavour too them. They’re not what you would term as directly Kafkaesque; they have nightmarish qualities and oppressive undertones to them, but the characters are not aware of their sufferings. They don’t feel trapped like K. did in The Trial. They don’t know that they are being consumed by their own pursuit for brilliance within their respective disciplines. They feel normal.
But it is very clear to the reader that they are not normal. The direction they are taking will one day destroy them in one way or another. They are caged by their art because one day it will kill them because they cannot stop perfecting it. The title story, A Hunger Artist, is the one that develops these themes most strongly. There are suggestions in the others, though that may be because I read A Hunger Artist first and had its weird brilliance lingering on my mind. So I’m going to focus on it in particular.
I’ve never even heard of the concept of a hunger artist before and I found myself researching them to see if they were a real thing. They sound like a Kafka creation, but in a way the story seemed so real I had my doubts. And as it turns out they are real. Hunger artist were performers (most likely part of a circus) that were quite popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Their act, their art, was to starve themselves. They would sit in a cage and not eat for days and weeks why people would come and watch them to see how long they could last. Such a practice sounds extremely dangerous, and I do wonder at the psychology of such a thing. These men would have pushed themselves into anorexia and near to death.
- A Hunger Artist, locked in his cage.
The audience would mark the days for the artist and watch him to ensure that he didn’t sneakily eat any food and that he was genuine throughout. The prospect of doing so, for Kafka’s artist, is revolting. He could never imagine betraying his calling and sinking so low as to be a fake artist. The very thought offends him as he is proud of the forty days he can go without food. He’s done it many times and after each time (where he is force fed when he is let out of his cage because he always refuses it) he finds himself wishing he could take it further and last longer, and perhaps never eat food again. So, he does, I think you can probably guess the ending. Kafka delivered in masterfully all the same.
In a way, I think Kafka has used the story as an allegory for writing (and perhaps other forms of art.) There are so many creative types out their who push themselves so far to make something extraordinary. But they are unrecognised and unappreciated as Kafka was in his lifetime. Their art is wasted so they work themselves to death to better it (or perhaps, and more likely, as they are consumed my it.)
Excellent writing – I really need to read more Kafka!
October 24, 2016
It would appear Kafka saved some of his best writing for the time just prior to his death in 1924, and "The Hunger Artist" has a feel of bitter irony and maturity but still retains the same ground as previous works, that being alienation and withdrawal. The exhibit point being a man in a cage fasting for 40 days, and from the first few sentences Kafka induces a consciousness of time by tempting the reader to inquire only of the situation of the hunger artist himself rather than worry about place and time. Of course with Kafka there is always the initiation of something extremely unusual, and that's no different here, resulting in pseudo-scientific and abstract content, with a factual style narrative that blurs the lines between the paradoxical situation we are exposed to. Strangely as it may seem, as we are dealing with a man inside a cage, it's a spiritual freedom that reverberates for the individual, and this will push him further forward in his daring escapades, with only one possible outcome. The artist is also melancholic not because he does not eat, but because he is continuously tempted to abandon his fasting and to accept the very food he tries to evade, but oddly he still manages to sing to onlookers!, thus creating a tone that plays havoc with your thought process, and that's what I admire most, is the fact that everything evaluates on such a deep level, it feels like he is a psychologist digesting our conscious minds.
You can take Kafka's most famous work, as good as it may be, but he never actually got to reach a peak. I get the impression that had he another 10 years of writing after this he could have reached a stratosphere of greatness far beyond any other writer of his time. Fucking tuberculosis!.
You can take Kafka's most famous work, as good as it may be, but he never actually got to reach a peak. I get the impression that had he another 10 years of writing after this he could have reached a stratosphere of greatness far beyond any other writer of his time. Fucking tuberculosis!.
May 26, 2025
The Hunger Artist is another trip down weird and wonderful lane with Kafka.
This one is a beauty. The Hunger Artist is a professional faster. Yep, he starves himself for a living. For 40 days locked in a cage while the public gaze at his wretched shrinking body. Our protagonist is one of the best around. He finds fasting easy, and given the chance he could far exceed 40 days.
But the crowds tire of the spectacle after 40 days and don’t turn up. This makes our artist a bit angry. They don’t appreciate his art. He feels a bit worthless, pointless, irrelevant.
Anyway, he finally gets a job in a circus as a resident faster, here there are no such limits, he can fast as long as he likes. However , his cage is near the big cats, and people tend to just walk past him to view these impressive creatures.
Again, this makes him feel under appreciated.
I found this story terribly ssd.
It was funny to start with, because professional fasting is a new art form for me. But his lack of relevance and the sadness that ensued was bitterly depressing. I mean this guy was literally putting his body on the line for a dispassionate public.
I wonder how many other artists feel this way.
4 Stars
This one is a beauty. The Hunger Artist is a professional faster. Yep, he starves himself for a living. For 40 days locked in a cage while the public gaze at his wretched shrinking body. Our protagonist is one of the best around. He finds fasting easy, and given the chance he could far exceed 40 days.
But the crowds tire of the spectacle after 40 days and don’t turn up. This makes our artist a bit angry. They don’t appreciate his art. He feels a bit worthless, pointless, irrelevant.
Anyway, he finally gets a job in a circus as a resident faster, here there are no such limits, he can fast as long as he likes. However , his cage is near the big cats, and people tend to just walk past him to view these impressive creatures.
Again, this makes him feel under appreciated.
I found this story terribly ssd.
It was funny to start with, because professional fasting is a new art form for me. But his lack of relevance and the sadness that ensued was bitterly depressing. I mean this guy was literally putting his body on the line for a dispassionate public.
I wonder how many other artists feel this way.
4 Stars
April 13, 2013
I am too overwhelmed to write , for i AM the hunger artist !
It's like watching yourself , your life , your decisions ,and above all your DEATH !
This is how i visioned my death ! I just didn't have any idea that another person knew how exactly it's going to be !
Kafka creeps the hell outta me . Seriously !
December 4, 2018
‘A Hunger Artist’ is about an artist who starves himself as an art. Back in the days, the hunger artist used to be displayed in a cage and a lot of people paid money to admire his art. But, the times have changed and people just don’t care about him anymore. The story is highly metaphorical and different interpretations can be drawn from it.
And when once in a while a person strolling past stood there making fun of the old number and talking of a swindle, that was in a sense the stupidest lie which indifference and innate maliciousness could invent, for the hunger artist was not being deceptive—he was working honestly—but the world was cheating him of his reward.
‘The hunger artist’ can be an allegory of an artist. When the artist is at the peak of his career, he’s given immense attention and appreciation still, there are people who misunderstand his art and doubt his talents. As time passes, people’s attention and interest gets diverted towards something novel or maybe better and no one cares about the washed-up artist anymore.
The obsession of an artist with realizing his full potential and his suffering due to not getting the recognition he deserves might lead him to isolate himself from the world. This can cause the artist to lose himself in his art and take it too far to the point of no return. Eventually, the artist just fades into obscurity. Kafka, an artist, might be writing about his own experience; he lived an isolated life plagued with problems and never received recognition in his lifetime.
It could also refer to people who don’t fit in with the norms of the society and hence, stand out even more. People who lead different lives due to what they do or who they are might feel isolated from the society and feel like they’re trapped in a cage to be gawked at by everyone but understood and accepted by no one.
“Just look at you,” said the supervisor, “why can’t you do anything else?” “Because,” said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and, with his lips pursed as if for a kiss, speaking right into the supervisor’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss anything, “because I couldn’t find a food which I enjoyed. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else.”
The story of the artist could also represent the people who are forced to make different choices in their life due to the circumstances and they end up doing something they never wanted to do in the first place. Even though they tried to make the most of it, there’s this underlying regret and wishful thinking that things could’ve turned out differently.
This is a deep and thought-provoking story and I highly recommend it.
And when once in a while a person strolling past stood there making fun of the old number and talking of a swindle, that was in a sense the stupidest lie which indifference and innate maliciousness could invent, for the hunger artist was not being deceptive—he was working honestly—but the world was cheating him of his reward.
‘The hunger artist’ can be an allegory of an artist. When the artist is at the peak of his career, he’s given immense attention and appreciation still, there are people who misunderstand his art and doubt his talents. As time passes, people’s attention and interest gets diverted towards something novel or maybe better and no one cares about the washed-up artist anymore.
The obsession of an artist with realizing his full potential and his suffering due to not getting the recognition he deserves might lead him to isolate himself from the world. This can cause the artist to lose himself in his art and take it too far to the point of no return. Eventually, the artist just fades into obscurity. Kafka, an artist, might be writing about his own experience; he lived an isolated life plagued with problems and never received recognition in his lifetime.
It could also refer to people who don’t fit in with the norms of the society and hence, stand out even more. People who lead different lives due to what they do or who they are might feel isolated from the society and feel like they’re trapped in a cage to be gawked at by everyone but understood and accepted by no one.
“Just look at you,” said the supervisor, “why can’t you do anything else?” “Because,” said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and, with his lips pursed as if for a kiss, speaking right into the supervisor’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss anything, “because I couldn’t find a food which I enjoyed. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else.”
The story of the artist could also represent the people who are forced to make different choices in their life due to the circumstances and they end up doing something they never wanted to do in the first place. Even though they tried to make the most of it, there’s this underlying regret and wishful thinking that things could’ve turned out differently.
This is a deep and thought-provoking story and I highly recommend it.
May 10, 2025
This is a collection of four short stories, at least three of which concern performance art. These four are also included in some version of The Metamorphosis.
A Hunger/Fasting Artist
This is presumably where David Blaine got his inspiration, but Kafka, of course, is far more profound and disturbing.
Is he just a dedicated performer, or does self-starvation serve some higher purpose, or reflect Kafka's own concerns and problems with health and eating? Much of the inner turmoil sounds like someone with an eating disorder: "I have to fast, I can't help it" and "I could never find the nourishment I liked".
His greatest frustration is people assuming he cheats somehow. He is the only person who is 100% certain of the truth, and yet he is dissatisfied with himself because fasting is "the easiest thing in the world".
He's never allowed to fast for more than 40 days because the public lose interest, but you should be careful what you wish for. Fasting as a spectacle goes out of fashion; he is no longer the big draw he once was, and he ends up in a circus, alongside more interesting animals.
You can read the full text here (8 pages):
http://www.kafka-online.info/a-hunger...
For a different take on similar themes, see Han Kang's The Vegetarian (see my review HERE).
The First Sorrow
This tells of a trapeze artist so dedicated to his art, that he lives for and on his trapeze. Travel is torturous because he has to come down (though for longer journeys, he goes by train and lies in the overhead luggage rack!).
Voyeurism often features tangentially in Kafka's works (and sometimes explicitly), but that is not the trapeze artist's motivation. He is a pure artist, and prepared to sacrifice everything for that, regardless of any fame or approval.
A Little Woman
This seems to be the odd one out, as it doesn't feature a performance or any sort of artist. Instead, it is an apparently paranoid narration of a man who is despised and thus tormented by a woman who "is a complete stranger to me". She is "repulsed" and "highly dissatisfied with me" to the extent that she cannot sleep and thus cannot work. He does not know (or admit?) the cause, but feels guilt, as well as shame arising from the assumption that others condemn him. He claims "the relationship between us is entirely of her making and only exists from her point of view", but his reaction implies otherwise. He asks a friend for advice and awaits her judgement.
Josefine the Songstress or The Mouse People
One of Kafka's animal stories, though apart from the subtitle, you'd barely know it. It's also (probably) my least favourite, though I can't quite say why.
An unnamed narrator talks about Josfine: "the beauty of her song is such that even the dullest ear cannot resist it" and goes on to ponder whether it is really art, or merely an extension of the natural tendency to "pipe" (I presume "squeak" would be a better translation).
She has diva-ish tendencies and is revered by her people, such that "Josefine stands almost beyond the law". She says work impairs her voice, so invents work-related injuries, "So now we get a theatrical performance in addition to the concert". Should society support great artists?
You can read the full text here (20 pages), HERE.
See my Kafka-related bookshelf for other works by and about Kafka: HERE
A Hunger/Fasting Artist
This is presumably where David Blaine got his inspiration, but Kafka, of course, is far more profound and disturbing.
Is he just a dedicated performer, or does self-starvation serve some higher purpose, or reflect Kafka's own concerns and problems with health and eating? Much of the inner turmoil sounds like someone with an eating disorder: "I have to fast, I can't help it" and "I could never find the nourishment I liked".
His greatest frustration is people assuming he cheats somehow. He is the only person who is 100% certain of the truth, and yet he is dissatisfied with himself because fasting is "the easiest thing in the world".
He's never allowed to fast for more than 40 days because the public lose interest, but you should be careful what you wish for. Fasting as a spectacle goes out of fashion; he is no longer the big draw he once was, and he ends up in a circus, alongside more interesting animals.
You can read the full text here (8 pages):
http://www.kafka-online.info/a-hunger...
For a different take on similar themes, see Han Kang's The Vegetarian (see my review HERE).
The First Sorrow
This tells of a trapeze artist so dedicated to his art, that he lives for and on his trapeze. Travel is torturous because he has to come down (though for longer journeys, he goes by train and lies in the overhead luggage rack!).
Voyeurism often features tangentially in Kafka's works (and sometimes explicitly), but that is not the trapeze artist's motivation. He is a pure artist, and prepared to sacrifice everything for that, regardless of any fame or approval.
A Little Woman
This seems to be the odd one out, as it doesn't feature a performance or any sort of artist. Instead, it is an apparently paranoid narration of a man who is despised and thus tormented by a woman who "is a complete stranger to me". She is "repulsed" and "highly dissatisfied with me" to the extent that she cannot sleep and thus cannot work. He does not know (or admit?) the cause, but feels guilt, as well as shame arising from the assumption that others condemn him. He claims "the relationship between us is entirely of her making and only exists from her point of view", but his reaction implies otherwise. He asks a friend for advice and awaits her judgement.
Josefine the Songstress or The Mouse People
One of Kafka's animal stories, though apart from the subtitle, you'd barely know it. It's also (probably) my least favourite, though I can't quite say why.
An unnamed narrator talks about Josfine: "the beauty of her song is such that even the dullest ear cannot resist it" and goes on to ponder whether it is really art, or merely an extension of the natural tendency to "pipe" (I presume "squeak" would be a better translation).
She has diva-ish tendencies and is revered by her people, such that "Josefine stands almost beyond the law". She says work impairs her voice, so invents work-related injuries, "So now we get a theatrical performance in addition to the concert". Should society support great artists?
You can read the full text here (20 pages), HERE.
See my Kafka-related bookshelf for other works by and about Kafka: HERE
June 2, 2023
“. . . he felt no limits to his ability to starve.”
Once every few years I read Franz Kafka’s brilliantly absurdist “The Hunger Artist.” I have some memory that part of his inspiration was his own struggles--actually not getting enough to eat for periods--with poverty as he worked and wrote. The main character in this short story lives in a zoo; people come by to see him as he sits in a chair and starves for the crowd.
“He was prepared to joke with them, to tell them stories from his journeyman years, and in turn to listen to their stories, anything just so as to keep them awake, to be able to show them again and again that he had nothing edible in the cage, and that he starved in a way that not one of them could.”
References for me: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (about endurance dance contests during the Depression where people competed for days at a time without sleep for a cash prize); I think of “Shark Tanks” or MMA contests where we get to watch people beat the living shit out of each other; I think of fame in general--Brittney Spears comes to mind--where we get to watch with horror and glee as famous people spin into mental chaos. Fascinating to watch someone else's mental illness!?
“Experience had proven that for about forty days, through gradually intensified publicity, you could go on stimulating a city’s interest, but beyond that time there was no audience.”
Or the nature of art and the artist in society. Melville wrote Moby Dick, and died penniless and destitute. Or we may love art and artists but we don’t want to pay for it. Or hunger itself on a local or global scale; we read and watch the news as catastrophic starvation happens in this country or the next.
“Try to explain the art of starving to someone! Those who have no feel for it can never be made to understand.”
Darkly comic, sad, chilling, absurdist allegory that can lead you down multiple paths of reflection. My kinda story, just brilliant.
I read this again this morning after I read an article about world hunger (title below), and as I consider that there are tens of thousands of new refugees in Chicago and more than 60,000 homeless on the street:
UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021
The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition report shows the world is moving backwards in efforts to eliminate hunger and malnutrition
Once every few years I read Franz Kafka’s brilliantly absurdist “The Hunger Artist.” I have some memory that part of his inspiration was his own struggles--actually not getting enough to eat for periods--with poverty as he worked and wrote. The main character in this short story lives in a zoo; people come by to see him as he sits in a chair and starves for the crowd.
“He was prepared to joke with them, to tell them stories from his journeyman years, and in turn to listen to their stories, anything just so as to keep them awake, to be able to show them again and again that he had nothing edible in the cage, and that he starved in a way that not one of them could.”
References for me: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (about endurance dance contests during the Depression where people competed for days at a time without sleep for a cash prize); I think of “Shark Tanks” or MMA contests where we get to watch people beat the living shit out of each other; I think of fame in general--Brittney Spears comes to mind--where we get to watch with horror and glee as famous people spin into mental chaos. Fascinating to watch someone else's mental illness!?
“Experience had proven that for about forty days, through gradually intensified publicity, you could go on stimulating a city’s interest, but beyond that time there was no audience.”
Or the nature of art and the artist in society. Melville wrote Moby Dick, and died penniless and destitute. Or we may love art and artists but we don’t want to pay for it. Or hunger itself on a local or global scale; we read and watch the news as catastrophic starvation happens in this country or the next.
“Try to explain the art of starving to someone! Those who have no feel for it can never be made to understand.”
Darkly comic, sad, chilling, absurdist allegory that can lead you down multiple paths of reflection. My kinda story, just brilliant.
I read this again this morning after I read an article about world hunger (title below), and as I consider that there are tens of thousands of new refugees in Chicago and more than 60,000 homeless on the street:
UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021
The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition report shows the world is moving backwards in efforts to eliminate hunger and malnutrition
August 26, 2016
For most part it could be read in different ways:
1. as an allegory on life of jesus. Jesus died trying to tell the people about righteous path. However, just like hunger artist he was never understood and soon ran out of fashion. To me personally, it appears weakest of interpretations.
2. About path of abstinence. Hunger artist was personification of abstinence and was replaced by ever hungry beast showing a change in values of society. He chooses abstinence because he could not be at peace with joys society has to offer as his last words show.
3. Obsession. Hunger artist had a blind, and as was proved fatal, obsession for hunger. Like anybody living through obsession, he couldn't understand other people's indifference towards what he considered so important, carried his obsession to extremes with no sense of measure or proportion; continued out of habit to the point of his death. His last words may be a seen as a desperate effort at self justification (those weren't the reasons mentioned in the beginning.)
4. A critical artist. The hunger artist may stand for an artist (read Kafka) or even a social activist (read Gandhi with his satyagrahas and Mother Teresa with her self imposed poverty) who feels compelled to make, or rather turn himself into a statement against things he or she can't turn his gaze away from - the way rest of us do. Although instead of being understood, he or she becomes a source of curiosity and entertainment, and ends up being replaced by another entertainment of very opposite sort as society's tastes changes. Hunger artist's last words may mean to show he has been so because he couldn't living with existing vices of society.
Like all Kafka's works, it is absurd and is liable to multiple interpretations, but we need not worry ourselves with what author was thinking when he wrote it. Great works often end up saying and doing then they are trying to.
1. as an allegory on life of jesus. Jesus died trying to tell the people about righteous path. However, just like hunger artist he was never understood and soon ran out of fashion. To me personally, it appears weakest of interpretations.
2. About path of abstinence. Hunger artist was personification of abstinence and was replaced by ever hungry beast showing a change in values of society. He chooses abstinence because he could not be at peace with joys society has to offer as his last words show.
3. Obsession. Hunger artist had a blind, and as was proved fatal, obsession for hunger. Like anybody living through obsession, he couldn't understand other people's indifference towards what he considered so important, carried his obsession to extremes with no sense of measure or proportion; continued out of habit to the point of his death. His last words may be a seen as a desperate effort at self justification (those weren't the reasons mentioned in the beginning.)
4. A critical artist. The hunger artist may stand for an artist (read Kafka) or even a social activist (read Gandhi with his satyagrahas and Mother Teresa with her self imposed poverty) who feels compelled to make, or rather turn himself into a statement against things he or she can't turn his gaze away from - the way rest of us do. Although instead of being understood, he or she becomes a source of curiosity and entertainment, and ends up being replaced by another entertainment of very opposite sort as society's tastes changes. Hunger artist's last words may mean to show he has been so because he couldn't living with existing vices of society.
Like all Kafka's works, it is absurd and is liable to multiple interpretations, but we need not worry ourselves with what author was thinking when he wrote it. Great works often end up saying and doing then they are trying to.
March 6, 2018
Re-read 3.6.18:
Kafka has been, to me, a deeply spiritual writer, speaking deep truths in spiritual and allegorical words, which speak to the heart and spirit. This gorgeous, sad story speaks to me, but I find it hard to convey with my mind.
This spoke deepest to me:
"I always wanted you to admire my fasting,' said the hunger artist. 'And so we do admire it,' said the overseer accomodatingly. 'But you shouldn't admire it,' said the hunger artist. 'So then we don't admire it,' said the overseer,'but why should we not admire it?' 'Because I must fast, I cannot do otherwise,' answered the hunger artist. 'What a character you are,' said the overseer, 'and why can't you do otherwise?' 'Because,' said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and puckering his lips as if for a kiss, and he spoke directly into the overseers ear so that nothing would be missed, 'Because I could never find food I liked. Had I found it, believe me, I would never have created such a ruckus and would have stuffed myself like you and everyone else.' These were his last words, but in his glazing eyes there remained the firm if no longer proud conviction that he was still fasting."
These were Kafka's last words to us, in a sense, having died soon after the arrangement. I think Kafka was the hunger artist. He lived an emaciated existence, consumed in his writing, loving it, knowing he had an extraordinary gift, but knowing the reality that he didn't write popular fiction. His writing revealed his emaciated, nutrition-neglected existence, in his loneliness, his internal conflicts, his concern for the true matters of life. He didn't live to merely entertain people, and use the money to be entertained. He went deep, and wanted to take people deep, and died believing he had failed. Perhaps his hope was that some day people might hear, and see him after death as in life, feeding off the food of what truly matters.
-----------------
Original, 3.2.16
The life of a nutrition deprived man in a cage, a prisoner by will. One of those stories you keep thinking about and sink into days after.
Kafka has been, to me, a deeply spiritual writer, speaking deep truths in spiritual and allegorical words, which speak to the heart and spirit. This gorgeous, sad story speaks to me, but I find it hard to convey with my mind.
This spoke deepest to me:
"I always wanted you to admire my fasting,' said the hunger artist. 'And so we do admire it,' said the overseer accomodatingly. 'But you shouldn't admire it,' said the hunger artist. 'So then we don't admire it,' said the overseer,'but why should we not admire it?' 'Because I must fast, I cannot do otherwise,' answered the hunger artist. 'What a character you are,' said the overseer, 'and why can't you do otherwise?' 'Because,' said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and puckering his lips as if for a kiss, and he spoke directly into the overseers ear so that nothing would be missed, 'Because I could never find food I liked. Had I found it, believe me, I would never have created such a ruckus and would have stuffed myself like you and everyone else.' These were his last words, but in his glazing eyes there remained the firm if no longer proud conviction that he was still fasting."
These were Kafka's last words to us, in a sense, having died soon after the arrangement. I think Kafka was the hunger artist. He lived an emaciated existence, consumed in his writing, loving it, knowing he had an extraordinary gift, but knowing the reality that he didn't write popular fiction. His writing revealed his emaciated, nutrition-neglected existence, in his loneliness, his internal conflicts, his concern for the true matters of life. He didn't live to merely entertain people, and use the money to be entertained. He went deep, and wanted to take people deep, and died believing he had failed. Perhaps his hope was that some day people might hear, and see him after death as in life, feeding off the food of what truly matters.
-----------------
Original, 3.2.16
The life of a nutrition deprived man in a cage, a prisoner by will. One of those stories you keep thinking about and sink into days after.
March 16, 2018
“he was working honestly- - but the world was cheating him of his reward”
The hunger artist’s life’s ‘work’ as a public spectator in a cage - starved from food - is one hell of a career choice.
What did he feel the world owed him? Perhaps asked another way - “what did he feel he owed himself?”.
The older the Hunger Artist became - rather than experiencing inner peace - his heart grew heavy.
Fasting itself was easy for him. Forty days at a time were not so much a personal challenge
— it was simply the number of days of a fasting cycle until the public got bored with paying attention.
One of the things I thought about —
besides...the sadness of this man’s life —perhaps wanting control - but control is limiting- an illusion- and ultimately disappointing—
I thought about the deep sadness of the GREAT ARTISTS...
The GREAT HONEST WORKERS in our world — doing what they do that comes natural and easy to ‘them’... yet they are never satisfied with their self worth. Many of the greatest people feel invisible- lonely - like they’ve failed at their own dreams....
And they are sorry.
The Hunger Artist tried to do honest work....and make a difference.
What the artist doesn’t know....
Is that he is still making a difference after his death.
Being human hurts - and if this short story doesn’t point to that - I don’t know what does!
The hunger artist’s life’s ‘work’ as a public spectator in a cage - starved from food - is one hell of a career choice.
What did he feel the world owed him? Perhaps asked another way - “what did he feel he owed himself?”.
The older the Hunger Artist became - rather than experiencing inner peace - his heart grew heavy.
Fasting itself was easy for him. Forty days at a time were not so much a personal challenge
— it was simply the number of days of a fasting cycle until the public got bored with paying attention.
One of the things I thought about —
besides...the sadness of this man’s life —perhaps wanting control - but control is limiting- an illusion- and ultimately disappointing—
I thought about the deep sadness of the GREAT ARTISTS...
The GREAT HONEST WORKERS in our world — doing what they do that comes natural and easy to ‘them’... yet they are never satisfied with their self worth. Many of the greatest people feel invisible- lonely - like they’ve failed at their own dreams....
And they are sorry.
The Hunger Artist tried to do honest work....and make a difference.
What the artist doesn’t know....
Is that he is still making a difference after his death.
Being human hurts - and if this short story doesn’t point to that - I don’t know what does!
April 18, 2012
When I was born, I started to learn the tricks of the world.
I did everything I was asked to do.
I did years of schooling.
I was asked to take a paying degree of engineering, I did it.
I was told that management is "THE" thing for the future and that's where the big bucks are. I did that too.
But somewhere down the line I lost track of myself.
What will happen if someday everything I did looses its relevance?
What will I do? Will I panic. Yes, sure.
But what will the future hold for me then?
How will I fulfill the desire of acceptance then?
Will I be ever able to live my life normally? If yes then HOW?
Will the world end?
Who will notice when I die?
Is my usefulness to others is the means to an end or an end in itself?
This sad tale by Kafka narrates the dilemma of a man whose only trait has become irrelevant to the world.
It's a lot to ponder !!
I did everything I was asked to do.
I did years of schooling.
I was asked to take a paying degree of engineering, I did it.
I was told that management is "THE" thing for the future and that's where the big bucks are. I did that too.
But somewhere down the line I lost track of myself.
What will happen if someday everything I did looses its relevance?
What will I do? Will I panic. Yes, sure.
But what will the future hold for me then?
How will I fulfill the desire of acceptance then?
Will I be ever able to live my life normally? If yes then HOW?
Will the world end?
Who will notice when I die?
Is my usefulness to others is the means to an end or an end in itself?
This sad tale by Kafka narrates the dilemma of a man whose only trait has become irrelevant to the world.
It's a lot to ponder !!
September 15, 2023
«Sólo él sabía, -sólo él y ninguno de sus adeptos que cosa fácil era el ayuno. Era la cosa más fácil del mundo.»
Emparentado con el relato del trapecista es de una extensión mayor y está más trabajado. En el capítulo siguiente se contará cómo Kafka corrigió este texto hasta unos días antes de morir junto con el relato de Josefina, lo cual resalta el grado de compromiso que siempre tuvo con su obra.
Tanto el trapecista como el ayunador son artistas circenses; ambos realizan una única actividad y no conocen otra forma de vida. Además, y por primera vez, tanto el empresario del ayunador como el del trapecista son amables con ellos a diferencia de los que hemos podido apreciar en “La metamorfosis” o “El castillo”. Kafka dota a estos empresarios de un halo de figuras paternas que alguna vez ambicionó para sí.
Inclusive los padres de Gregor Samsa y Georg Bendemann son diametralmente opuestos a estos personajes de estos relatos.
Volviendo a “Un artista del hambre”, si existe una frase mejor defina la naturaleza de este relato es la que Kafka anotó en sus Diarios el 22 de octubre de 1921 definiéndose a sí mismo como «Un experto, un especialista, uno que sabe de lo suyo, un saber que, desde luego, no puede ser comunicado, pero, por fortuna, tampoco parece ser necesario para nadie».
El artista del hambre acostumbra diariamente a cumplir su proeza: no comer. Lo hace con un ascetismo riguroso y es visitado por el público todos los días, pero su patrón no le permite exceder su ayuno más allá de los cuarenta días por riesgo a que muera de inanición.
Entonces lo saca de su jaula e intenta alimentarlo ante la vista del público presente.
Así disfruta de su fama efímera y es un experto en lo suyo: «Sólo él sabía, -sólo él y ninguno de sus adeptos que cosa fácil era el ayuno. Era la cosa más fácil del mundo».
Pero muy pronto y por razones desconocidas, su arte deja de interesar y abruptamente llega el fin de su época de esplendor, por lo que decide separarse de su patrón y sumarse a un circo para seguir desarrollando su famélica rutina.
Aunque al principio es visitado en el circo, comienza a perder el control de cuántos días lleva ayunando (tarea de la que depende también de los cuidadores que nunca le prestan atención) y puede ayunar todo lo que quiera, y así la gente pierde todo interés en él.
No ven un sentido real en lo que el ayunador hace, y menos ningún tipo de arte alguno, por más que él se sienta «fanáticamente enamorado del hambre».
Pasa el tiempo y los cuidadores acuden a su jaula, pero descubren que está agonizando. Ha ayunado más días de los que creía. Entonces el ayunador explica sus motivos y pide que se lo perdone antes de morir.
En sus últimos momentos de vida admite que siempre deseó que todos admiraran su arte del ayuno y que no puede parar de hacerlo. Cuando finalmente se le consulta por qué no puede evitarlo confiesa «porque nunca pude encontrar comida que me gustara».
Un paradójico final kafkiano, una vuelta de tuerca a la historia de este hombre que muere olvidado y al que nadie recordará por realizar tan peculiar proeza.
El artista del hambre ha muerto, el mundo sigue andando y es reemplazado por una fabulosa pantera.
Emparentado con el relato del trapecista es de una extensión mayor y está más trabajado. En el capítulo siguiente se contará cómo Kafka corrigió este texto hasta unos días antes de morir junto con el relato de Josefina, lo cual resalta el grado de compromiso que siempre tuvo con su obra.
Tanto el trapecista como el ayunador son artistas circenses; ambos realizan una única actividad y no conocen otra forma de vida. Además, y por primera vez, tanto el empresario del ayunador como el del trapecista son amables con ellos a diferencia de los que hemos podido apreciar en “La metamorfosis” o “El castillo”. Kafka dota a estos empresarios de un halo de figuras paternas que alguna vez ambicionó para sí.
Inclusive los padres de Gregor Samsa y Georg Bendemann son diametralmente opuestos a estos personajes de estos relatos.
Volviendo a “Un artista del hambre”, si existe una frase mejor defina la naturaleza de este relato es la que Kafka anotó en sus Diarios el 22 de octubre de 1921 definiéndose a sí mismo como «Un experto, un especialista, uno que sabe de lo suyo, un saber que, desde luego, no puede ser comunicado, pero, por fortuna, tampoco parece ser necesario para nadie».
El artista del hambre acostumbra diariamente a cumplir su proeza: no comer. Lo hace con un ascetismo riguroso y es visitado por el público todos los días, pero su patrón no le permite exceder su ayuno más allá de los cuarenta días por riesgo a que muera de inanición.
Entonces lo saca de su jaula e intenta alimentarlo ante la vista del público presente.
Así disfruta de su fama efímera y es un experto en lo suyo: «Sólo él sabía, -sólo él y ninguno de sus adeptos que cosa fácil era el ayuno. Era la cosa más fácil del mundo».
Pero muy pronto y por razones desconocidas, su arte deja de interesar y abruptamente llega el fin de su época de esplendor, por lo que decide separarse de su patrón y sumarse a un circo para seguir desarrollando su famélica rutina.
Aunque al principio es visitado en el circo, comienza a perder el control de cuántos días lleva ayunando (tarea de la que depende también de los cuidadores que nunca le prestan atención) y puede ayunar todo lo que quiera, y así la gente pierde todo interés en él.
No ven un sentido real en lo que el ayunador hace, y menos ningún tipo de arte alguno, por más que él se sienta «fanáticamente enamorado del hambre».
Pasa el tiempo y los cuidadores acuden a su jaula, pero descubren que está agonizando. Ha ayunado más días de los que creía. Entonces el ayunador explica sus motivos y pide que se lo perdone antes de morir.
En sus últimos momentos de vida admite que siempre deseó que todos admiraran su arte del ayuno y que no puede parar de hacerlo. Cuando finalmente se le consulta por qué no puede evitarlo confiesa «porque nunca pude encontrar comida que me gustara».
Un paradójico final kafkiano, una vuelta de tuerca a la historia de este hombre que muere olvidado y al que nadie recordará por realizar tan peculiar proeza.
El artista del hambre ha muerto, el mundo sigue andando y es reemplazado por una fabulosa pantera.
March 29, 2023
Two longest stories of this small collection are 'The Hunger Artist' and 'Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk'. Both of them about the relationship between the artist and the audience, both were the last stories written by Kafka before his death, both end with either the death or disappearance of the artist.
You can hear bitter irony and hopelessness in the author's voice, but his narrator, as usual, seems casual and detached, so the real suffering and tragedy are deeply under the surface.
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'Many days went by once more, and this, too, came to an end. Finally the cage caught the attention of a supervisor, and he asked the attendant why they had left this perfectly useful cage standing here unused with rotting straw inside. Nobody knew, until one man, with the help of the table with the number on it, remembered the hunger artist. (...) “Just look at you,” said the supervisor, “why can’t you do anything else?” “Because,” said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and, with his lips pursed as if for a kiss, speaking right into the supervisor’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss anything, “because I couldn’t find a food which tasted good to me. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else.” Those were his last words, but in his failing eyes there was still the firm, if no longer proud, conviction that he was continuing to fast.
“All right, tidy this up now,” said the supervisor. And they buried the hunger artist along with the straw.'
('The Hunger Artist')
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'As regards Josephine there’s no hope left, her time is over and I’m already able to see the last word regarding her existence, the last dying whistle of her tune as it fades into silence. She’s merely a
small episode in the never ending saga of our folk, a bit of history, and we’ll be able to rise above our loss, our folk shall continue on. But then, it won’t be that easy—how are we to assemble together in total silence? Indeed, we weren’t all that silent even when she was with us, was her actual whistling louder and more lively than our memory of it, am I saying anything in posing such a riddle? And was it ever anything more than a memory even when she still lived, rather isn’t it much more the case that our folk in its wisdom, our folk rated her song so highly even due to this, because it was something that bespoke what is immortal, something that we’d never lose. Perhaps then, indeed, we won’t be missing her all that much.'
('Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk')
You can hear bitter irony and hopelessness in the author's voice, but his narrator, as usual, seems casual and detached, so the real suffering and tragedy are deeply under the surface.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Many days went by once more, and this, too, came to an end. Finally the cage caught the attention of a supervisor, and he asked the attendant why they had left this perfectly useful cage standing here unused with rotting straw inside. Nobody knew, until one man, with the help of the table with the number on it, remembered the hunger artist. (...) “Just look at you,” said the supervisor, “why can’t you do anything else?” “Because,” said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and, with his lips pursed as if for a kiss, speaking right into the supervisor’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss anything, “because I couldn’t find a food which tasted good to me. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else.” Those were his last words, but in his failing eyes there was still the firm, if no longer proud, conviction that he was continuing to fast.
“All right, tidy this up now,” said the supervisor. And they buried the hunger artist along with the straw.'
('The Hunger Artist')
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'As regards Josephine there’s no hope left, her time is over and I’m already able to see the last word regarding her existence, the last dying whistle of her tune as it fades into silence. She’s merely a
small episode in the never ending saga of our folk, a bit of history, and we’ll be able to rise above our loss, our folk shall continue on. But then, it won’t be that easy—how are we to assemble together in total silence? Indeed, we weren’t all that silent even when she was with us, was her actual whistling louder and more lively than our memory of it, am I saying anything in posing such a riddle? And was it ever anything more than a memory even when she still lived, rather isn’t it much more the case that our folk in its wisdom, our folk rated her song so highly even due to this, because it was something that bespoke what is immortal, something that we’d never lose. Perhaps then, indeed, we won’t be missing her all that much.'
('Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk')
March 8, 2018
You always end up doing shit you never wanted to do.
October 7, 2024
سمعتها بعد ما أنهيت كتاب رجال ريا وسكينة بيوم، وبحثت عنها مكتوبة لأقرأ أجزاء بعينها من القصة، واكتشفت لماذا لم أكن اجدها من قبل عندما أبحث لأنها منشورة في الأعمال الكاملة فقط فهي ليست بشهرة التحول ولا المحاكمة ولكنها في رأيي لا تقل عن التحول جمالا وإن كنت لا زلت متعلقة بالتحول أكثر وأشعر باستغراق في تفاصيل المشاعر بها
هنا أيضًا نستشعر طريقة كافكا المختلفة في تناول شعور ما، ونظرته للمجتمع بالفترة التي كتب فيها فنان الجوع ونظرته للمستقبل وما إن كان سيأتي بأناس مختلفين.
كان فنان الجوع يفتخر مغاليًا بفنه في أن يظل جائعًا وإلى النهاية يعلن عن فنه باعتداد وعن قدرته على تقديم المزيد، ولكنه في لحظة حقيقة قال بصراحة إنه تمسك بفن أن يكون جائعًا لأن الناس لم يتركوا له دورًا آخر ليمارسه ولم يفهموا معنى أن يكون جائعًا، ولا يملك أمره في ما يأكل.
لا أحب الإسقاط والبحث عن مقاصد كثيرة وراء ما يعجبني في الأدب ولكن رغمًا عني ذكرني فنان الجوع بأهل غزة، وأطفال غزة يفتخرون بمعاناتهم ولكن هل يفكرون في لحظة حقيقة ان هذا الدور (الذي لم يجدوا مفرًا منه) متعب وأن البطولة مرهقة ولا بأس في حياة عادية لهم فيها حق الاختيار ألا يكونوا صامدين وجائعين ومقتولين.
رابط التعليق الصوتي، أداء جميل جدا
https://youtu.be/We7a9BVssDk?si=hy1Qe...
هنا أيضًا نستشعر طريقة كافكا المختلفة في تناول شعور ما، ونظرته للمجتمع بالفترة التي كتب فيها فنان الجوع ونظرته للمستقبل وما إن كان سيأتي بأناس مختلفين.
كان فنان الجوع يفتخر مغاليًا بفنه في أن يظل جائعًا وإلى النهاية يعلن عن فنه باعتداد وعن قدرته على تقديم المزيد، ولكنه في لحظة حقيقة قال بصراحة إنه تمسك بفن أن يكون جائعًا لأن الناس لم يتركوا له دورًا آخر ليمارسه ولم يفهموا معنى أن يكون جائعًا، ولا يملك أمره في ما يأكل.
لا أحب الإسقاط والبحث عن مقاصد كثيرة وراء ما يعجبني في الأدب ولكن رغمًا عني ذكرني فنان الجوع بأهل غزة، وأطفال غزة يفتخرون بمعاناتهم ولكن هل يفكرون في لحظة حقيقة ان هذا الدور (الذي لم يجدوا مفرًا منه) متعب وأن البطولة مرهقة ولا بأس في حياة عادية لهم فيها حق الاختيار ألا يكونوا صامدين وجائعين ومقتولين.
رابط التعليق الصوتي، أداء جميل جدا
https://youtu.be/We7a9BVssDk?si=hy1Qe...
July 1, 2016
"Un hombre condenado a mirar al mundo con una claridad tan enceguecedora que éste le resultó insoportable y se encaminó hacia la muerte"
Esta es la descripción que hace Kafka del ayunador, un hombre que conforme se describe su mundo y su necesidad de sentir hambre transmite un velo de angustia y desolación que sólo él, y sus semejantes, podían entender. El arquetipo del hombre solo cuando está rodeado de gente, siempre inconforme con el mundo y completamente incomprendido pero, que al mismo tiempo, entiende al mundo mejor que todos los habitantes que lo conforman.
Un cuento que abarca la inconformidad, la necesidad de sobresalir y hacerse invisible en un mismo momento, y la belleza/sufrimiento de morir por el amor al arte son sólo algunos de los aspectos que son demostrados en esta magnifica obra que no sólo analiza al artista en su desesperación y conformismo sinotambién al espectador en su fascinación y desprecio.
"Tal vez su esqueletica delgadez procedía de su descontento consigo mismo"
Esta es la descripción que hace Kafka del ayunador, un hombre que conforme se describe su mundo y su necesidad de sentir hambre transmite un velo de angustia y desolación que sólo él, y sus semejantes, podían entender. El arquetipo del hombre solo cuando está rodeado de gente, siempre inconforme con el mundo y completamente incomprendido pero, que al mismo tiempo, entiende al mundo mejor que todos los habitantes que lo conforman.
Un cuento que abarca la inconformidad, la necesidad de sobresalir y hacerse invisible en un mismo momento, y la belleza/sufrimiento de morir por el amor al arte son sólo algunos de los aspectos que son demostrados en esta magnifica obra que no sólo analiza al artista en su desesperación y conformismo sinotambién al espectador en su fascinación y desprecio.
"Tal vez su esqueletica delgadez procedía de su descontento consigo mismo"
March 12, 2022
Kafka scares me sometimes.
Update:25 Oct
Raising the rating to 5 because I CANNOT stop thinking about this.
Update:25 Oct
Raising the rating to 5 because I CANNOT stop thinking about this.
August 2, 2020
English: A Hunger Artist
Many of Kafka's texts are bleak, but this one is particularly haunting: The protagonist works for an impresario who markets him as a hunger artist travelling around and eating nothing for up to 40 days - not because it becomes too dangerous after that, but because experience shows that that's the time span audiences are captivated by the act. But as the times change, people get less interested in hunger artists, and the proatgonist goes on sitting in his cage and eating nothing next to the circus animals, where he is almost forgotten and finally dies, the cage then being occupied by a panther.
One obvious theme here is the joy of the masses being entertained by novelty and an "art" that is destructive for the performer - but this performer enjoys his work, although it eventually kills him. Kafka saw loneliness and ascetism as necessary conditions for an artist to do his job properly. And then there's the disconnect between the audience, who turns their backs on the hunger artist, and the artist who goes on doing what he does, because it's a compulsion. Again, Kafka is known to have said that not being able to write was like torture to him.
The ending is interesting as well: The hunger artist wanted to sit in the cage and perform, the panther is forced to sit in that unnatural environment - it's also an obvious nod to Rilke's poem The Panther ("To him, there seem to be a thousand bars / and back behind those thousand bars no world" - this sounds so much better in German).
What a troubled individual this Franz Kafka must have been, and what a great writer he was.
Many of Kafka's texts are bleak, but this one is particularly haunting: The protagonist works for an impresario who markets him as a hunger artist travelling around and eating nothing for up to 40 days - not because it becomes too dangerous after that, but because experience shows that that's the time span audiences are captivated by the act. But as the times change, people get less interested in hunger artists, and the proatgonist goes on sitting in his cage and eating nothing next to the circus animals, where he is almost forgotten and finally dies, the cage then being occupied by a panther.
One obvious theme here is the joy of the masses being entertained by novelty and an "art" that is destructive for the performer - but this performer enjoys his work, although it eventually kills him. Kafka saw loneliness and ascetism as necessary conditions for an artist to do his job properly. And then there's the disconnect between the audience, who turns their backs on the hunger artist, and the artist who goes on doing what he does, because it's a compulsion. Again, Kafka is known to have said that not being able to write was like torture to him.
The ending is interesting as well: The hunger artist wanted to sit in the cage and perform, the panther is forced to sit in that unnatural environment - it's also an obvious nod to Rilke's poem The Panther ("To him, there seem to be a thousand bars / and back behind those thousand bars no world" - this sounds so much better in German).
What a troubled individual this Franz Kafka must have been, and what a great writer he was.
June 21, 2023
Un Artista del Hambre es un relato que se encuentra cargado de significado, y es muy representativo del trabajo de Kafka. Una vez leído y releído en pocas horas lo interpreto de varias formas, aquí plasmaré, las que a mi juicio y obviamente desde un plano subjetivo, podrían ser las más acertadas.
La primera es que este relato plasma la decadencia de todo tipo de arte, la pérdida de importancia del mismo a lo largo del tiempo, siendo reemplazado por otros intereses, más allá de los sacrificios del artista. Surge así una confrontación entre el deseo del autor, su expresión de la creatividad y el deseo del público. ¿Debe el artista plegarse a los deseos de la gente en su arte? ¿Debe proseguir con su propia necesidad de expresión aunque la audiencia desaparezca? Y en este caso, ¿sigue el arte siendo tal si no hay nadie para apreciarlo?..
La segunda es la social y humana. El "artista" muriendo de hambre se encuentra dentro de una jaula, a la vista de todos, recibiendo su indiferencia. Si uno reflexiona sobre el pensamiento y comportamiento humano, una sociedad puede tranquilamente ser la que se encuentra dentro de la jaula, sufriendo, padeciendo, mientras que el resto del mundo simplemente pasa, odiándola por su situación, dudando de su veracidad, negándose a ayudarla, burlándose de sus calamidades, dejando pasar el tiempo mientras muere de hambre, distrayéndose con otros espectáculos sin comprender sus razones. Esta obra es, quizás, una genial llamada de atención sobre nuestra forma de actuar.
Todas estas cuestiones sin respuesta se plantean en un texto narrado con sencillez y claridad, con una prosa esquiva a la grandilocuencia y sin embargo muy bien anclada en los temas que subyacen. Es sin duda, un relato brillante. Es sin duda, Kafka.
La primera es que este relato plasma la decadencia de todo tipo de arte, la pérdida de importancia del mismo a lo largo del tiempo, siendo reemplazado por otros intereses, más allá de los sacrificios del artista. Surge así una confrontación entre el deseo del autor, su expresión de la creatividad y el deseo del público. ¿Debe el artista plegarse a los deseos de la gente en su arte? ¿Debe proseguir con su propia necesidad de expresión aunque la audiencia desaparezca? Y en este caso, ¿sigue el arte siendo tal si no hay nadie para apreciarlo?..
La segunda es la social y humana. El "artista" muriendo de hambre se encuentra dentro de una jaula, a la vista de todos, recibiendo su indiferencia. Si uno reflexiona sobre el pensamiento y comportamiento humano, una sociedad puede tranquilamente ser la que se encuentra dentro de la jaula, sufriendo, padeciendo, mientras que el resto del mundo simplemente pasa, odiándola por su situación, dudando de su veracidad, negándose a ayudarla, burlándose de sus calamidades, dejando pasar el tiempo mientras muere de hambre, distrayéndose con otros espectáculos sin comprender sus razones. Esta obra es, quizás, una genial llamada de atención sobre nuestra forma de actuar.
Todas estas cuestiones sin respuesta se plantean en un texto narrado con sencillez y claridad, con una prosa esquiva a la grandilocuencia y sin embargo muy bien anclada en los temas que subyacen. Es sin duda, un relato brillante. Es sin duda, Kafka.
December 5, 2024
چیزی که برام جالبه اینه که کافکا معمولاً سراغ شخصیتهایی میره که درگیر جستوجوی معنا و هویتاند، ولی این تلاش اغلب با سرخوردگی همراه میشه. در «هنرمند گرسنگی»، اون تضاد بین تلاش برای هنر ناب و بیتوجهی یا سوءاستفاده از هنرمند خیلی قوی نشون داده شده. انگار هنرمند نه تنها از دیگران، بلکه از خودش هم دور میشه.
داستان به زیبایی دو بُعد رو نشون میده: از یک طرف، جامعهای که ارزشهای سطحی داره و هنر رو صرفاً یک سرگرمی یا منبع سود میبینه، و از طرف دیگه، هنرمندی که خودش درگیر وسواس برای «کامل بودن»ه و به نوعی از زندگی واقعی فاصله گرفته.
شاید بتونیم بگیم هنرمند گرسنگی نمادیه از همه اونهایی که در پی معنا یا ارزش درونی هستن، اما بین خواستههای خودشون و توقعات دیگران گیر میافتن و در پایان «هنرمند گرسنگی»، هنرمند به نقطهای میرسه که دیگه حتی خودش هم معنای کارش رو از دست داده. آخرین جملههاش که میگه «چون غذای مورد علاقهام رو پیدا نکردم»، میتونه استعارهای باشه از اینکه او هیچوقت در زندگی چیزی که واقعاً میخواست (یا معنا و ارزشی که دنبالش بود) رو پیدا نکرد.
از طرف دیگه، شاید این پایان رو بشه بهعنوان نوعی آزادی هم دید؛ انگار او از این چرخهی بیپایان تلاش برای تأیید دیگران یا رسیدن به کمال خارج میشه، حتی اگر این آزادی از طریق مرگ باشه.
داستان به زیبایی دو بُعد رو نشون میده: از یک طرف، جامعهای که ارزشهای سطحی داره و هنر رو صرفاً یک سرگرمی یا منبع سود میبینه، و از طرف دیگه، هنرمندی که خودش درگیر وسواس برای «کامل بودن»ه و به نوعی از زندگی واقعی فاصله گرفته.
شاید بتونیم بگیم هنرمند گرسنگی نمادیه از همه اونهایی که در پی معنا یا ارزش درونی هستن، اما بین خواستههای خودشون و توقعات دیگران گیر میافتن و در پایان «هنرمند گرسنگی»، هنرمند به نقطهای میرسه که دیگه حتی خودش هم معنای کارش رو از دست داده. آخرین جملههاش که میگه «چون غذای مورد علاقهام رو پیدا نکردم»، میتونه استعارهای باشه از اینکه او هیچوقت در زندگی چیزی که واقعاً میخواست (یا معنا و ارزشی که دنبالش بود) رو پیدا نکرد.
از طرف دیگه، شاید این پایان رو بشه بهعنوان نوعی آزادی هم دید؛ انگار او از این چرخهی بیپایان تلاش برای تأیید دیگران یا رسیدن به کمال خارج میشه، حتی اگر این آزادی از طریق مرگ باشه.
May 11, 2025
My favourite so far from kafka. I need to read more!
The hunger artist opens the mind to the realisation (or plain obviousnes in some cases) to the fact that some people's ideas or journeys are missed,skipped over or not taken seriously.
What has been achieved here shows that the cause may seem ugly or uninteresting(not in fashion!) but sometimes the best views go unacknowledged and are left behind
The hunger artist opens the mind to the realisation (or plain obviousnes in some cases) to the fact that some people's ideas or journeys are missed,skipped over or not taken seriously.
What has been achieved here shows that the cause may seem ugly or uninteresting(not in fashion!) but sometimes the best views go unacknowledged and are left behind
March 12, 2021
«کسی که احساسش نمیکند نمیتوان به فهمیدنش واداشت»
شاهکار
یه اگزیستانسیالیسم بدون نقص
هنرمند گرسنگی در بهار 1922نگاشته شده است.
شاهکار
یه اگزیستانسیالیسم بدون نقص
هنرمند گرسنگی در بهار 1922نگاشته شده است.
August 22, 2020
O Franz Kafka και η υψηλή τέχνη να γράφεις αριστουργήματα μέσα σε λίγες μόνο σελίδες.
Για κάποιους συγγραφείς αποτελεί όνειρο ζωής. Για τον Kafka υποψιάζομαι πως ήταν απλώς Τετάρτη.
Για κάποιους συγγραφείς αποτελεί όνειρο ζωής. Για τον Kafka υποψιάζομαι πως ήταν απλώς Τετάρτη.
July 6, 2017
En tiempos pasados el ayuno fue visto como un gesto noble. Los antiguos ascetas (especialmente los de oriente) acostumbraban el ayuno como una ofrenda o sacrificio ante la divinidad; no era raro ver a místicos y frailes (flacos hasta los huesos) que evitaban casi por completo el "alimento material" para conformarse con el "alimento espiritual". Con el tiempo, apareció otra manera noble de evitar las bondades de la nutrición; un activista o luchador social podía declararse en "huelga de hambre" y dejar de comer como protesta ante la injusticia o el abuso del poder, poniendo su vida en manos del tirano. Sin embargo, la honorabilidad de estos motivos, podría esconder un impulso autodestructivo; una patología que llevaría a estas personas a ofrecerse como el cordero puesto para el sacrificio. A este impulso de dejar de comer, se le reconoce hoy en día como anorexia, una enfermedad psiquiátrica
"Un artista del hambre" relato escrito por Franz Kafka en 1922 trata sobre ese impulso destructivo ya despojado de su dignidad mística o justiciera, pero revestido de una cualidad circense. El artista del hambre es una persona que ostenta poder sobrevivir sin probar bocado durante cuarenta días. Esta habilidad es tomada por el personaje como una profesión de la que se enorgullece, por la que se contrata y recibe una remuneración, misma que le obliga a ser enjaulado, exhibido y vigilado día y noche, cual si fuera un animal salvaje.
La psicología profunda del personaje es muy interesante, pues a sabiendas de sentirse completamente incomprendido, arremete con furia contra quienes intentan empatizar con él. En repetidas ocasiones nuestro protagonista expresa plena convicción por su modo de ganarse la vida y por el dominio de su "arte", pero termina aceptando que su ayuno no es más que una inclinación incontrolable, una adicción que va más allá de sus fuerzas. El lector encontrará el desenlace de la historia tan desconcertante como la personalidad del individuo. De ahí que demos paso a muchas interpretaciones.
Una de las posibles maneras de entender el relato sería tomarlo como una alegoría del celibato. Ciertas personas, por voluntad propia o por hacer votos de castidad, se someten a la abstinencia sexual, y podrían (como "el artista del hambre") ostentar su castidad como un logro extraordinario, como una cualidad que les hace superior a sus semejantes. Sin embargo (como "el artista del hambre") sería imposible corroborar la veracidad de sus clamores, pues para ello sería necesario mantenerlos permanentemente vigilados y sólo así comprobar si cumplen con la privación de la que tanto se jactan.
Otra interpretación podría ser la pobreza. Muchos seres humanos rechazan el dinero por considerarlo como algo "sucio". Por tanto, ostentan sus carencias materiales como si éstas les revistieran de dignidad. Finalmente, viene la interpretación última del "sentimiento de amor", pues la naturaleza de una buena parte de nuestros semejantes es rechazar el amor por considerarnos indignos de él. Todas estas aristas pueden ser relacionadas con nuestro "artista del hambre".
Además de la soledad, hay otras características que podemos encontrar en los personajes. Habrá que mencionar el exhibicionismo de quién patético se muestra y el morbo de quienes pasivos, incrédulos o indiferentes observan. (Para que alguien se destruya hace falta que otro lo presencie y sufra con él, de otra manera, el golpe suicida carecería de sentido). Este elemento exhibicionista empeora la situación del "artista del hambre", quien ya soporta el peso de sentirse diferente y de confundir sus habilidades "artísticas" con el odio por sí mismo.
Siempre que se lee a Kafka el lector termina dando paso a la reflexiones, la introspección y las conjeturas. Con este relato me fue inevitable pensar en aquellas modelos de pasarela de cuerpo esquelético y en aquellos fisicoculturistas musculosos y anabolizados que se muestran orgullosos en los certámenes. ¿No son ellos también artistas del hambre?
"Un artista del hambre" relato escrito por Franz Kafka en 1922 trata sobre ese impulso destructivo ya despojado de su dignidad mística o justiciera, pero revestido de una cualidad circense. El artista del hambre es una persona que ostenta poder sobrevivir sin probar bocado durante cuarenta días. Esta habilidad es tomada por el personaje como una profesión de la que se enorgullece, por la que se contrata y recibe una remuneración, misma que le obliga a ser enjaulado, exhibido y vigilado día y noche, cual si fuera un animal salvaje.
La psicología profunda del personaje es muy interesante, pues a sabiendas de sentirse completamente incomprendido, arremete con furia contra quienes intentan empatizar con él. En repetidas ocasiones nuestro protagonista expresa plena convicción por su modo de ganarse la vida y por el dominio de su "arte", pero termina aceptando que su ayuno no es más que una inclinación incontrolable, una adicción que va más allá de sus fuerzas. El lector encontrará el desenlace de la historia tan desconcertante como la personalidad del individuo. De ahí que demos paso a muchas interpretaciones.
Una de las posibles maneras de entender el relato sería tomarlo como una alegoría del celibato. Ciertas personas, por voluntad propia o por hacer votos de castidad, se someten a la abstinencia sexual, y podrían (como "el artista del hambre") ostentar su castidad como un logro extraordinario, como una cualidad que les hace superior a sus semejantes. Sin embargo (como "el artista del hambre") sería imposible corroborar la veracidad de sus clamores, pues para ello sería necesario mantenerlos permanentemente vigilados y sólo así comprobar si cumplen con la privación de la que tanto se jactan.
Otra interpretación podría ser la pobreza. Muchos seres humanos rechazan el dinero por considerarlo como algo "sucio". Por tanto, ostentan sus carencias materiales como si éstas les revistieran de dignidad. Finalmente, viene la interpretación última del "sentimiento de amor", pues la naturaleza de una buena parte de nuestros semejantes es rechazar el amor por considerarnos indignos de él. Todas estas aristas pueden ser relacionadas con nuestro "artista del hambre".
Además de la soledad, hay otras características que podemos encontrar en los personajes. Habrá que mencionar el exhibicionismo de quién patético se muestra y el morbo de quienes pasivos, incrédulos o indiferentes observan. (Para que alguien se destruya hace falta que otro lo presencie y sufra con él, de otra manera, el golpe suicida carecería de sentido). Este elemento exhibicionista empeora la situación del "artista del hambre", quien ya soporta el peso de sentirse diferente y de confundir sus habilidades "artísticas" con el odio por sí mismo.
Siempre que se lee a Kafka el lector termina dando paso a la reflexiones, la introspección y las conjeturas. Con este relato me fue inevitable pensar en aquellas modelos de pasarela de cuerpo esquelético y en aquellos fisicoculturistas musculosos y anabolizados que se muestran orgullosos en los certámenes. ¿No son ellos también artistas del hambre?
November 11, 2013
I always try to view a piece of art as abstract and intricate as the soul of its creator. Judging it by its surface would be like judging a person by their appearance, an opinion biased to its very core. Worshiping it according to its fame or its signature is discrimination against Art in its purest sense. I honestly have no idea where my thoughts will lead me. I know though that feelings are submerging me right now and I feel shrouded by the sight of this hunger artist. He was a master in the art of fasting. The suffering of a desperate soul was what he could symbolize the best. He was both the artist and the masterpiece and he devoted himself to what seemed to him the heart of his existence, fasting in a cage in front of an apathetic society. All he was longing for was some recognition, a fickle attention or just one brief glance of a stranger passing by him. A sign acknowledging his existence and his work of art, for god’s sake!
I respect you, dear hunger artist. I would even go further and say I adore you. I might not be an artist, but I am a hunger person whose mind is abstained from anything fake. Fain would I await the time when authenticity shall prevail and fain would Art die, if hunger artists get satiated by money and publicity.
A hunger artist is a very layered work which makes it hard –even impossible- to read without omitting a sign or a meaning. As the last book published during the lifetime of Kafka, I wonder if he doesn't project himself on some aspect of this hunger artist. It is said that Kafka may have suffered from Schizoid personality disorder which is characterized by a lack of interest in relationships and a tendency towards an isolated lifestyle. It is hard to draw any conclusions about this but to me Kafka would always remain this mysterious genius and, A hunger artist utterly testifies to his greatness.
I respect you, dear hunger artist. I would even go further and say I adore you. I might not be an artist, but I am a hunger person whose mind is abstained from anything fake. Fain would I await the time when authenticity shall prevail and fain would Art die, if hunger artists get satiated by money and publicity.
A hunger artist is a very layered work which makes it hard –even impossible- to read without omitting a sign or a meaning. As the last book published during the lifetime of Kafka, I wonder if he doesn't project himself on some aspect of this hunger artist. It is said that Kafka may have suffered from Schizoid personality disorder which is characterized by a lack of interest in relationships and a tendency towards an isolated lifestyle. It is hard to draw any conclusions about this but to me Kafka would always remain this mysterious genius and, A hunger artist utterly testifies to his greatness.
"Try to explain the art of fasting to anyone! If someone doesn’t feel it, then he cannot be made to understand it."
January 21, 2015
This is a tiny story and I'd recommend that everyone read it. Think about your hunger. Do you starve yourself for lack of nutrition or do you poison yourself with what you are given? Do you choke your children with your own inadequacy and suffocate those try to live consciously?
In the moments when one is faced with something intense, it is easy to get overwhelmed. But take twenty minutes, read this story and answer your questions.
In the moments when one is faced with something intense, it is easy to get overwhelmed. But take twenty minutes, read this story and answer your questions.
May 19, 2024
When the external critics lost interest and the artist lost his external measure of success, he is left with his internal critic, himself, who unfortunately knew very well how mediocre his performance actually is. Is the pathetic condition of the hunger artist also a reflection of Kafka's own condition?
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