I read Franz Kafka's story, "A Hunger Artist" with some trepidation. When I was a bit younger I went through a Kafka phase--this came after I had lived in Austria and travelled to Prague where Kafka's presence is fairly ubiquitous (at least in Prague--I was there in the early 90s). When I returned home after my year abroad I started collecting all manner of books by and about him, but to be honest I read very little of his fiction--concentrating mostly on his biography and his relationship with several women (Felice Bauer, Milena Jesenska and Dora Diamant). It has been so long since I read these books that what little knowledge I have of Kafka now is rather hazy, but he is such an icon in literature that I think most people don't need to have read him, to understand the word "kafkaesque" (per Wiki: this "has come into common use to denote mundane yet absurd and surreal circumstances of the kind commonly found in Kafka's work"). Just looking at photographs of him--isn't/wasn't he intriguing looking? He died so young--only 41 in 1924. If there is an author I could go back in time and meet, he would definitely be the one.
I knew when I read "A Hunger Artist" I would have to read some criticism along with it--something to help me untangle the meaning that I am sure lurks beneath the surface. I had read (before starting the story) that hunger artists did indeed actually exist. Kafka likely was aware of them, and in my readings, he may have read about one of the famous hunger artists in a newspaper as "almost every detail of Kafka's story corresponds to the actual profession of fasting for pay." I think they were falling out of vogue asa source of entertainment, however, by the time he wrote his story.
I don't think I can really add anything terriby insightful to Dorothy or Litlove's excellent interpretations of the story (both posts were very helpful to me in "digesting" the story, and I look forward to other reader's thoughts as well). I do have a few quotes that I will share from my own extracurricular reading. I read a good essay by Liz Brent, which appears in Short Stories for Students (The Gale Group, 2000), but rather than trying to clumsily paraphrase, let me just quote directly. Litlove discussed the religious significance of the story, and to build a little on that:
"Understanding Kafka's religious orientation helps to make sense of this symbolism (the author had previously mentioned that "hunger" in the story suggests a symbolic reference to spiritual yearning). Although he did not practice it as a religion, Kafka developed a great interest in studying his Jewish culture. As with most religions, many Jewish rituals and traditions revolve around food. Fasting is an equally important ritual during the holiday of Yom Kippur. Evelyn Torton Beck has suggested that the hunger artist's fasting suggests 'a grotesque distortion of the fasting associated with Yom Kippur, which, ironically, is intended to have the opposite effect of bringing Jews together before God.' The hunger artist fasts for periods of 40 days, a time period evocative of biblical events. After Noah built his ark, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. After escaping slavery in Egypt, the Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years.
The hunger artist's fasting and lifelong sense of dissatisfaction is in part symbolic of a hunger for spiritual fulfillment. The hunger artist is also described as a religious 'martyr', although his martyrdom is based on his own professional frustrations, rather than any spiritual enlightenment. At the public spectacle which ended each fast, the impresario 'lifted his arms in the air above the artist, as if inviting Heaven to look down upon its creature here in the straw, this suffering martyr, which indeed he was, although in quite another sense.' The hunger artist's professional success does not make up for his spiritual emptiness, as he spends much of his life 'in invisible glory, honored by the world, yet in spite of that troubled in spirit, and all the more troubled because no one would take his trouble seriously.' Ironically, while fasting is associated with the devotion to God, the hunger artist's fasts only seem to exacerbate what Max Brod has maintained to be a central concern of Kafka's writing: 'the anguish and perplexity of modern man in search of God'."
Dorothy talks about the artist aspect of the story--how can someone be a hunger artist? In the Brent essay I read that the hunger artist may be a symbol of the "suffering artist in society."
"A closer look at Kafka's own personal experience as a writer will illuminate the significance of such an interpretation, for Kafka has come to be known as the quintessential 'suffering artist' of the twentieth century. Kafka's suffering came in many forms, not least of which were his parent's neutral reaction to his minor successes and his own inner torment stemming from self-doubt about the quality of his writing. Kafka suffered from his parents' complete lack of appreciation for his talents. When he proudly handed his father a bound copy of his first published collection of short stories, he was met with indifference and told to set it on his father's nightstand. Any attempts to impress upon them the importance of his writing must have been futile, as the hunger artist knows: 'Just try to exlain to anyone the art of fasting! Anyone who has no feeling for it cannot be made to understand it'. "
I'm sorry I have resorted to quoting from other sources rather than giving my own thoughts and feelings, but I am honestly still not entirely sure what my thoughts and feelings actually are. I think upon reading through the story I thought it was somewhat bizarre. I feel like I have no frame of reference--no way to relate to what happens to the hunger artist or what he feels. It all feels so disjointed, but then I guess that is simply Kafka. Maybe you are not meant to feel at ease? I have seen the word "absurd" applied to this story, and I think it is an apt description. It is only when it is thought of as a parable or allegory that it makes sense to me. I think I read somewhere that this story is "one of the most enigmatic in modern literature"--it is abstract and its meaning is uncertain. If the critics can't agree on an interpretation, I don't feel quite so bad at feeling very open ended about "A Hunger Artist."
I do plan on reading more Kafka (fiction, letters and diaries--whatever I can get my hands on). Even though I feel rattled after reading his work, I want to know why (and sometimes I think it is good to be a little rattled). I am not sure where I will start or when I will start (yet another little project for next year?), but as you can see I have a few books on my shelves to choose from. Kafka had asked both his friend and editor, Max Brod as well as his companion, Dora Diamant to destroy his unpublished works. Litlove clued me in that perhaps he didn't really want this to happen, and then I later read that Jorge Luis Borges commented, "If he really wanted a bonfire, why didn't he just strike the match himself?" Thankfully he didn't!
A couple of Kafka links: The Kafka Project and Kafka Photos.
By coincidence this essay, In Search of K, appeared yesterday on The Kenyon Review blog about Kafka as well.