As notions of “self-care,” (that is, of prioritizing one’s personal health) become increasingly common, the challenge of mental illness remains stigmatized if not least because it is generally invisible. Both in life and in literature, we can often glean understanding not only from what can be observed in narrative, but also through its gaps and disjunctions. In the case of Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist,” the protagonist’s extended fasting is not a direct concern of mental illness, but one of spectacle with his audience “marveling at him as he sat there pallid in black tights, with his ribs sticking out so prominently,” (Kafka 1). Though the main character’s condition could be swiftly read as an eating disorder, it is important to postpone clinical diagnoses and instead center our attention on how recognition of the artist’s spectacle manifests in the story.
As for the protagonist’s relationship with his audience, he primarily takes on the role of performer. Fasting is an act akin to tightrope walking at the circus. The contrast of his pallid skin against black tights emphasizes a contrast between his body and fasting being separate yet linked. That is, at the same time his body deteriorates and limits his remaining breaths of life, the delicate material over his lower body veils this self-destruction as performance. And when others conclude the artist’s melancholy demeanor is due to his fasting, “he [reacts] with an outburst of fury and to the general alarm began to shake the bars of his cage like a wild animal,” (Kafka 3). Beyond being put into a barred cage, the protagonist is thematically “put into a box” as everything he does is linked to his performance. His melancholy is not attributed to anything but his role as a starving spectacle and, thus, the main character loses his wits and acts as a feral creature in response. The description of him as animal, illustrating a moment of non-recognition of the artist as a fellow human being, ultimately reveals his underlying humanity. As a performer, he forces his body to serve him as a stage for his transcendent role as an artist. So when others doubt the legitimacy of his act, the only solution is for him to go beyond spectacle and take control of his own performance. Rather than allow onlookers to treat him as a comrade, he demands acknowledgment of his progress, his devotion to starving. “A Hunger Artist” reveals the use of deprivation as a form of exercising discipline over the self, which can speak to a number of spiritual traditions that emphasize self-control. In this way, the main character’s performance is one to underscore his autonomy and ability to self-actualize.
Work Cited
Kafka, Franz. “A Hunger Artist.” Ada at Evergreen State College, 2016. Web. 6 June
2016.
