“A Man of Art and Spirituality” In Kafka’s “ A Hunger Artist,” art is not used in its conventional context. Kafka illustrates the interdependency of the audience and the hunger artist, and especially his need for attention. It is through the audience that the hunger artist is fulfilled, but because he cannot communicate the sincerity of his performance he is always left dissatisfied. The definition of artist according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is “Any person who performs his work as if it were an art.” This is a perfect example of the hunger artist as he approaches his work with passion and devotion. He takes pride in his work and is disappointed by the limitations put on him by the audience. The hunger artist held a record for the longest fasting time but he was unable to beat it because his impresario prohibited it due to the fact the audience would lose interest. The Hunger Artist was able to go so long because food was only a source of nourishment not a pleasure as it was for so many others. Indeed his pleasure came from fasting. This made fasting easy for him and this further took away from his sense of achievement. The Hunger Artist’s primary interest was in the recognition from the crowd, an achievement never completely fulfilled because of the crowds inability to understand the passion he had in his work.The audiences fascination with the Hunger artist’s fasting is what the artist lived for. In the beginning of the story the hunger artist’s desire for attention is illustrated when the narrator said “ much more to his taste were the watchers who sat close up to the bars … He was quite happy at the prospect of spending a sleepless night with such watchers.”(299) Even the guards who were appointed to watch over him were enough to quench the artist’s thirst for attention. When the Hunger Artist was no longer a sour...
