欧宝娱乐

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.

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.

The 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 the more interesting animal.

You can read the full text here (8 pages):


For a different take on similar themes, see Han Kang's The Vegetarian (see my review HERE).

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), .


See my Kafka-related bookshelf for other works by and about Kafka: HERE