Introduction
In his short story “A Hunger Artist,” Franz Kafka approached the discussion of art from quite a unique angle. The obscure phenomenon of professional fasting, practiced by starvation artists, existed between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries and was part of the performance scene in Europe and America (Rubinstein, 1952). The story’s title, even though it focuses on an actual hunger artist, could be a play on the idea of a starving artist, who sacrifices everything material to focus on their craft, ultimately achieving public recognition. What unites the starving and hungry artists is their desire to capture the public’s attention and get praise for what they do.
Analysis of the Artist’s Last Words
The last words spoken by the hunger artist in the story illuminate the complexity of the relationship between an artist and his idea of public perception of the value their art brings. For years, the artist was encouraged to go as many days without food as possible to raise his art to a new level, even though the audience gradually lost interest in it, and there was no financial gain. This could be seen as a narrative representation of the truism – a starving artist willingly suffers for their art while receiving little to no material rewards (Myles Jackson, 2020). The hunger artist acknowledges that he could starve himself to show the perfection of his art. In his view, starvation is art because it can be perfected continually, as with other art forms such as painting, sculpture, or theater.
If one looks at the artist’s final words from a different angle, it may become apparent that his art does not represent a personal struggle. When dying, he says, “I can’t help it, […] because I couldn’t find the food I liked” (Kafka, 1995, p. 110). This makes the relationship between the hunger artist and his audience complicated, as it reveals that his commitment to starvation as an art stemmed not from pure artistic motivation but from his personal preference.
The artist could not find the food he liked, so he chose not to eat. There was no significant struggle for him not to eat, because there was no temptation to eat. The perceived suffering the artist’s audience might have seen was not there.
Conclusion
The story’s moral is that the relationship between individual artists and their audiences cannot always be the same. Regardless of their intentions and motivations, artists need autonomy to choose their approach. True art occurs naturally, meaning it should exist in any form, even if no one appreciates it at the artist’s time. This applies to art of any kind and the individuals who pursue it.
Kafka’s ideas and perceptions of art align with the modernist perspective, which emphasizes pushing one’s art to new limits and experimenting to achieve the highest levels of recognition. “A Hunger Artist” is a parable about artists’ need to be acknowledged for practicing their craft in any way they choose, regardless of initial intentions or outcomes. Public taste will always vary, and an artist who gives everything for their art must be true to themselves and what they want to convey to the world.
References
Kafka, F. (1995). The complete stories. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Myles Jackson, M. (2020). Overcoming the Myth of the Contemporary “Starving Artist”: An exploration into the fusion, and viability of a 21st-century career in art and design.
Rubinstein, W. C. (1952). Franz Kafka: A Hunger Artist. Monatshefte, 44(1), 13–19.