Estrangement and Loneliness in Kafka's "The Hunger Artist" Essay

Kafka’s “The Hunger Artist” is an unusual and thought provoking short story. The author’s choice of setting, rather than providing readers with a point of reference, serves only to highlight the story’s themes of isolation among eccentric individuals and the question of what constitutes art.
“The Hunger Artist” doesn’t provide readers with much detail in terms of precise geographical or sequential matters, but it is made clear that the hunger artist and his boss look for European cities in which to stage their performance. The facts regarding the act and the spectators are so general that the era is difficult to ascertain. This may have been intentional on behalf of the author, as the speaker mentions how undetermined "times" have transformed. This unnamed "times" provides the story with fairy-tale element. If readers wish to work out why the interest in hunger artists has changed for the general public, they cannot relate to any particular occasion in history. The one hint is in what "Europe" means for the story which, again, is not overly clear.
The majority of the story happens in two locations. When the hunger artist is at the height of his popularity, he performs his act in an amphitheatre. However, when his show becomes less desirable to audiences, he performs in a circus. These two places are not that dissimilar: both are locations for admired displays, but are not exactly the settings for which the artist strives.
“The Hunger Artist” is told in third person point of view, by an omniscient narrator who can listen in on the thoughts of various characters. This omniscient viewpoint similarly allows the narrator to cast overviews about the community or humanity. While the narrator might be in possession of knowledge about everything in the narrative, he doesn’t always tell the readers of his knowledge. An example of a detail he holds back is, of course, why hunger artists lost their popularity.
The story investigates the strong theme of the loneliness faced by the extraordinary person. The protagonist is obsessively dedicated to his talent, which is the rare art of starving himself. Even at the pinnacle of his reputation, nobody appreciates his art or his commitment. Rather, they are only viewing him as he is the most recent craze. The spectators’ non-existence appreciation or understanding simply increases the artist's aloneness and irritation. The story implies that the artist might not, in fact, be starving due to a commitment to his talent, but merely because he is fussy about what he likes to eat and doesn’t like many dishes. The estrangement suffered by the artist may additionally symbolise the estrangement suffered by any individual who appears to be other than standard.
A further interesting theme of “The Huger Artist” is whether an act can be referred to as a performance even if no one else identifies it as one. More specific is the problem of deciding whether starving oneself can ever be considered a form of art. The predicament of what constitutes as art is a heavily debated one even today.
Kafka’s story becomes more interesting the more thought one allows it. The complex themes of estrangement among unique individuals and recognising acts as forms of art, provide a solid basis for the piece. However, the author appears to have carefully considered his choices when it comes to setting and point of view, the result being a story which fits together perfectly. While some readers may be frustrated by the lack of information being fed to them, Kafka’s control of his writing indicates that this was, almost certainly, intentional.