A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka

"A Hunger Artist", also translated as "A Fasting Artist" and "A Starvation Artist", is a short story by Franz Kafka published in 1922. The protagonist is an archetype of Kafka, an individual marginalized by society.

August 2022 Hoopla Bonus Borrows Recommendation

This story hits differently when you know Kafka was dying of starvation while he was writing this book.

Was Franz Kafka writing about his own life when he wrote this? A Hunger Artist is his last work and he died shortly after editing it.

This is a story of a man who lives his life in the moment through suffering. While he suffers he's given great attention. While he physically starves himself, the world feeds his ego. Until they don't, and he has forgotten how to stop suffering.

I was expecting it all to be a metaphor of the unappreciated artist, as Kafka seeing himself in the Hunger Artist, but like everything Kafka has written, it's more about futility. I don't like analyzing books more than what they make me feel, so really for me, it's just about the meaninglessness of everything, the self aggrandizing feeling we get from putting ourself in pain, and the need for it to be acknowledged. The only reason for the “struggling artist” really, is themselves.