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These four stories capture how easily art can drive the artist to death.

Kafka is so good at what he does, but these have a slightly different flavour too them. They’re not what you would term as directly Kafkaesque; they have nightmarish qualities and oppressive undertones to them, but the characters are not aware of their sufferings. They don’t feel trapped like K. did in The Trial. They don’t know that they are being consumed by their own pursuit for brilliance within their respective disciplines. They feel normal.

But it is very clear to the reader that they are not normal. The direction they are taking will one day destroy them in one way or another. They are caged by their art because one day it will kill them because they cannot stop perfecting it. The title story, A Hunger Artist, is the one that develops these themes most strongly. There are suggestions in the others, though that may be because I read A Hunger Artist first and had its weird brilliance lingering on my mind. So I’m going to focus on it in particular.

I’ve never even heard of the concept of a hunger artist before and I found myself researching them to see if they were a real thing. They sound like a Kafka creation, but in a way the story seemed so real I had my doubts. And as it turns out they are real. Hunger artist were performers (most likely part of a circus) that were quite popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Their act, their art, was to starve themselves. They would sit in a cage and not eat for days and weeks why people would come and watch them to see how long they could last. Such a practice sounds extremely dangerous, and I do wonder at the psychology of such a thing. These men would have pushed themselves into anorexia and near to death.


- A Hunger Artist, locked in his cage.

The audience would mark the days for the artist and watch him to ensure that he didn’t sneakily eat any food and that he was genuine throughout. The prospect of doing so, for Kafka’s artist, is revolting. He could never imagine betraying his calling and sinking so low as to be a fake artist. The very thought offends him as he is proud of the forty days he can go without food. He’s done it many times and after each time (where he is force fed when he is let out of his cage because he always refuses it) he finds himself wishing he could take it further and last longer, and perhaps never eat food again. So, he does, I think you can probably guess the ending. Kafka delivered in masterfully all the same.

In a way, I think Kafka has used the story as an allegory for writing (and perhaps other forms of art.) There are so many creative types out their who push themselves so far to make something extraordinary. But they are unrecognised and unappreciated as Kafka was in his lifetime. Their art is wasted so they work themselves to death to better it (or perhaps, and more likely, as they are consumed my it.)

Excellent writing �� I really need to read more Kafka!