In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

HUNGER ARTISTS
In his poem "Der Hungerkiinstler," the Communist writer Johannes
Becher uses the profession of hunger artist as a metaphor for certain
aspects of capitalist exploitation. Promising a health cure, an allegorical
"usury dragon" lures "man" into one of those transparent boxes
(Hungerkasten) where hunger artists display themselves before a crowd
of paying spectators. Then the dragon stares fascinated into the "nothingness"
of the cage: "I lock you up, man, in a hunger box: / There starve
yourself healthy! With eyes crooked and crossed, / Glare into the nothingness.
It's time to fast" (Becher, 147). The poem describes the way in
which such "hunger people" are surrounded by billionaires who enjoy
the sight of poverty and starvation in much the same way they appreciate
artistic representations of Christ's crucifixion: "You, the hunger nation:
in the billionaires' district / The stones sweat glittering gold; / The priest
keeps watch over a newly bronzed Christ / hanging on the Cross. Stocks
and bonds flutter around him like little angels" (136). Becher's metaphors
are oblique-for hunger artists choose to stage their suffering as a
publicly appealing (and therefore money-making) performance, whereas
usually hunger is an involuntary condition of proletarian life. But the
poet seems to accept this asymmetry-probably because it allows him to
bring out an important sado-masochistic element in capitalist exploitation:
proletarians accept their suffering all too willingly, and, for capitalists,
displaying this torment to the public's gaze can bring financial
returns.
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