A Hunger Artist Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Frank Vulpi

Critical Essay by Frank Vulpi

SOURCE: "Kafka's A Hunger Artist: A Cautionary Tale for Fausti an Man Caught Between Creativity and Communion," in Germanic Notes and Reviews, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring, 1993, pp. 9-12.

In the following essay, Vulpi views Kafka's hunger artist as a representation of the Faustian man, one who "pursues an idea or creates something primarily to please himself, gain power, or satisy his ego."

Whether or not Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" ("Ein Hungerkünstler") is about the fate of the artist in twentieth-century society has been a much-discussed question. Critic Meno Spann [in Franz Kafka, 1976] comments as follows:

The word Hungerkünstler is misunderstood. The word Künstler by itself means artist, but in compounds it designates performers in the circus or in a variety show like Trapezkünstler ("trapeze artist") or Entkleidungskünstler ("stripper"), both of whom display skills but are not artists. Besides, Kafka never concerned himself with the artist and...
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