Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist)
Franz Kafka
Berlin/Leipzig, 1922
 
First printing in the October, 1922 issue of Die Neue Rundschau(one of the most respected literary magazines of Germany - in publication since 1890). A Fine copy in custom clamshell box.
 
An exacting artist grapples with feelings of alienation born in part from an unappreciative audience - a feeling most foreign, no? …
 
“…he indirectly lifted this piece to significant stature in his oeuvre by exempting it from the wish of annihilation that he had decreed for most of his other works. In addition, he chose it as the title story for the last volume of stories that he was able to oversee… Kafka, at the time he wrote this story, was already severely ill with tuberculosis of the larynx, very thin, and able to eat only with great difficulty. Many have seen his interest in this subject matter arising from his physical condition. The story depicts a circus spectacle that was popular in the latter part of the nineteenth century and existed until World War I. Like each of the final four stories that Kafka wrote during the last two years of his life, it has as its central figure an individual approaching the end of a life that might be considered futile. With historical accuracy it portrays a hunger artist, whose talent and profession is fasting for pay. Enclosed in a cage, he is observed by the public. To the hunger artist, fasting is both art and life.”(A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia)