A Hunger Artist
by Franz Kafka
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See Also
- Franz Kafka (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- Franz Kafka (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
- Franz Kafka (Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition)
- Franz Kafka (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
- Theory of Short Fiction (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Franz Kafka
- First Published: 1922
- Type of Plot: Parable
- Time of Work: Unspecified
- Setting: Unspecified
- Characters: The hunger artist, The impresario, The spectators, The overseer
- Genres: Short fiction, Parable
- Subjects: Art or artists, Spiritual life or spirituality, Death or dying, Isolation, Starvation
The Story
Franz Kafka’s dark parable describes the hunger artist’s ritual of self-annihilation and shows the ironic use of dissatisfaction as a stimulus for art. The narrator describes two periods of the artist’s life—that of the past, when people took a “lively interest” in spectacles of fasting, and that of recent times, when fasting has lost its popularity. Even in the early days of his career, the hunger artist feels the ingratitude of his audience, which continually questions his honesty. To demonstrate that no trickery is used, the artist sings during his fast....
(The entire page is 1613 words.)
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Popular Questions
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