»The Art of Starvation« by Franz Kafka Cover Image

»Sztuka głodowania« według Franza Kafki
»The Art of Starvation« by Franz Kafka

Author(s): Przemysław Znojek
Subject(s): Cultural history, Recent History (1900 till today), Czech Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: literature of the 20th century; prose; Franz Kafka; culture; history;

Summary/Abstract: This text is an attempt at a literature and cultural analysis of the phenomenon of starvation, presented from the perspective of the cultural convention, as a terrifying spectacle observed by society, in which human curiosity, deformed body, monstrosity and death play a fundamental role. The art of hunger with its accompanying suffering and irreversible bodily changes is described by Franz Kafka in the short story A Hunger Artist. The title character of the song arouses extreme emotions, especially as a figure of a street artist – an eccentric, a changer or a prank of nature. This short form of prose is a pretext for considering disturbed bodylife.

  • Issue Year: XXII/2022
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 189-200
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish