Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist)

Isolation and dehumanisation are also central to Kafka’s piece “Ein Hungerkünstler”. The protagonist, the Hunger Artist, places himself in a cage and starves himself for public viewing. He is not only physically alienated, by the cage, but also psychologically. There is a clear social disconnect between himself and the audience, as he feels that his art and skill is under-appreciated. We are told that “Most of them (the audience) believed he was a publicity seeker” and that the Hunger Artist “had to accept all that. But this dissatisfaction kept gnawing at his insides all the time”. This shows that the public misunderstands him, viewing his fasting as a spectacle rather than an art or expression. There is also an ascetic quality to this story: as if the Hunger Artist is putting his body into suffering in order to gain some sort of spiritual enlightenment or to transcend to a new level. This is evident in the phrase “as if he were inviting heaven to take a look at his work here on the straw”. Here, he suggests that he believes his fasting is heaven-worthy, when in reality this idea is detached from society. This art declined in popularity, so much that his audience dismantled and he was forced to perform in a circus now. However, the Hunger Artist views this as an attack on him and a lack of understanding by the public. He says “As if by a secret agreement, a veritable aversion to public fasting had developed everywhere.” The artist feels as if he is being excluded from society, and fabricates an idea that everyone is collaborating against him. This further exaggerates his isolation, which is not only manifested physically but also psychologically.  

In the circus, the Hunger Artist is placed “Near the stables”. His practice is so strange and inhumane that he is considered an animal, dehumanising him. Kafka may also be trying to suggest that the artist and the animals have a shared experience: they cannot communicate with their viewers. Further to this, the manner of his death is deeply disturbing: his prolonged hunger reduces him to a skeletal figure, as if his body is slowly dissolving, his skin and flesh eroding until he becomes hollow.  Moreover, just before he dies he remarks “I must fast, because I couldn’t find the food that I like”. Whilst this is utterly absurd, and very much Kafkaesque,to starve yourself to death because you don’t like food, this perhaps humorous ending also strengthens the concept of social disconnect between the Hunger Artist and the public. It is now clear that he was truly misunderstood, and this concept may be driven by Kafka’s personal life. The Hunger Artist didn’t do this for enjoyment, and wasn’t insane in that way. Kafka’s diaries are filled with self-criticism and was often hesitant to publish in fear that his work would not be received well or misconstrued.

The themes of suffering and search for meaning are prevalent throughout Kafka’s work. “A Hunger Artist” was written towards the end of his life, in 1922. At this point, he was in immense pain due to tuberculosis, which deeply affected his personal life and relationships. He suffered from constant coughing, increasing voicelessness and his condition made it agonising to eat. Not only did the Hunger Artist also physically suffer, but both were misunderstood. In Kafka’s “Letter to his Father”, he writes “I suffered, after all, in my every thought under intense pressure from you, even where my thoughts were completely different from yours.” This sentence illustrates that Kafka felt misinterpreted, in this case by his father, similar to how the Hunger Artist had a social disconnect with everyone else. Furthermore, they both had tension with their respective audiences. The Hunger Artist feels as if he was wrongly-done, confused why he no longer attracts crowds, whilst Kafka was afraid of an audience reading his works. Kafka was famously very critical of his own work and even wrote in a letter to his friend Max Brod “Everything I leave behind me …. in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters, sketches and so on, to be burned unread”. Kafka’s ambivalent relationship with his writing is also evident in other ways. He needed to write, but also suffered from it. He wrote in his diary “I am literature” and “If I do not write, I am lost”. For him, writing was a form of expression, a way in which he could escape the pressures of life, whilst also being exciting for him. However, writing also tormented him. He often viewed his work as inadequate or worthless, even when writing stories which are today considered masterpieces. Mental and physical illness such as insomnia and anxiety also made writing a gruelling process for him. Kafka reflects his self-induced suffering in “A Hunger Artist”. Although it is initially unclear whether the protagonists enjoy fasting, we eventually discover that it is because “he doesn’t like any food”. In this sense, Kafka’s experience with writing is strikingly similar to the Hunger Artists with fasting: they both perform these activities, not because of enjoyment but because they feel compelled to, despite all of their suffering. Therefore, “A Hunger Artist” is extremely reflective of a lot of the suffering Kafka experienced in his personal life.