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A Hunger Artist | Introduction

Franz Kafka’s ‘‘A Hunger Artist’’ was first written in 1922 and published in a collection also entitled A Hunger Artist. Although Kafka died in 1924, as he was still in the process of correcting the galley proofs, the collection was nevertheless published that same year. ‘‘A Hunger Artist’’ is one of the few manuscripts which Kafka did not request that his friends burn or otherwise destroy after his death.

‘‘A Hunger Artist,’’ which takes place in an unspecified time and place, is about a man worldfamous for his public performances of the act of fasting, for as much as forty days at a time. Even at the height of his career, the hunger artist is 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 ‘‘art.’’ The hunger artist struggles internally with his sense of dissatisfaction with himself and his feelings of alienation from the world outside the ‘‘cage’’ in which he fasts. As the years go by, the hunger artist’s profession goes out of vogue, while audiences move on to newer trends in mass entertainment.

Kafka’s stories are often described as fables or parables, and ‘‘A Hunger Artist’’ certainly shares this quality. It is just absurd enough to suggest that its meaning is symbolic rather than literal. As in many of Kafka’s stories, ‘‘A Hunger Artist’’ also explores themes of self-hatred, inadequacy, and alienation. ‘‘Hunger’’ becomes symbolic of both a lust for life and a spiritual yearning. The circumA stance of the protagonist confined in a claustrophobic space is also a common motif in Kafka’s work. The hunger artist’s ‘‘cage’’ functions as both a refuge from the outside world and a barrier between the artist and the rest of humanity.

A Hunger Artist Summary

This story is told primarily from the perspective of a ‘‘hunger artist,’’ who fasts for up to forty days at a time while sitting in a cage scattered with straw, which is placed on display in a public location, as a form of mass entertainment. In the opening line, the reader is informed that public interest in the ‘‘art’’ of fasting has declined in recent years.

At the height of the hunger artist’s career, and of public interest in his performances, things were different. The whole town would ‘‘take a lively interest’’ in his performances; most people made a point of looking at him at least once a day, and the children, most of all, were enthralled by him. To prove that he was not sneaking any food, local men, usually butchers, were assigned to guard the cage at night. The artist was always frustrated by those who made a point of giving him the opportunity to sneak food, which he never did because, ‘‘the honor of his profession forbade it.’’ This mistrust of the purity of his art was frustrating to the artist, who preferred those who watched him diligently throughout the night.

The sources of the hunger artist’s lifelong dissatisfaction with his performances were many. Since no one could ever really know for sure that he was not cheating, that perhaps he was secretly sneaking food, only the artist himself could fully appreciate the purity of his fasting, as a result of which he was ‘‘bound to be the sole completely satisfied spectator of his own fast.’’ But this was not his... » Complete A Hunger Artist Summary