Ein hungerkunstler

8vo of 86 pp., 1 l. Original blue cloth, internally clean and bright.

193 x 133 mm.

Kafka, Franz. A Hunger Artist.
Verlag die Schmiede, Berlin, 1924.

First edition of this masterpiece from Kafka’s mature period.

“Fasting no longer feeds a man,” is the conclusion Kafka reaches, as he evokes in this philosophical short story the suffering, the glory, and the obscure end of an artist once famous in his field. There was indeed a time when the champion of fasting was very much in fashion. Yet everything passes, even the admiration that a professional faster inspires. The authorities increasingly neglect the poor artist, and barely anyone pays him any attention; they even forget to count the days of his fast…

Franz Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist” was first written in 1922 and published in a collection also entitled A Hunger Artist. “A Hunger Artist” is one of the few manuscripts which Kafka did not request that his friends burn or otherwise destroy after his death.

“A Hunger Artist”, which takes place in an unspecified time and place, is about a man world-famous for his public performances of the act of fasting, for as much as forty days at a time. Even at the height of his career, the hunger artist is unsatisfied with his work and frustrated by both his manager and his audiences, who never fully appreciate his true talent or the purity of his “art.” The hunger artist struggles internally with his sense of dissatisfaction with himself and his feelings of alienation from the world outside the “cage” in which he fasts. As the years go by, the hunger artist’s profession goes out of vogue, while audiences move on to newer trends in mass entertainment.

“A Hunger Artist” explores themes of self-hatred, inadequacy, and alienation. “Hunger” becomes symbolic of both a lust for life and a spiritual yearning.

A beautiful copy preserved in its original cloth.