In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

HUNGER ARTISTS 117
cline, hunger artists begin to spice up their shows with attacks of frenzy
and with ostentatiously aggressive behavior. This, however, seems only
to create the impression that their control over the risk of starvation
allows them to manipulate the spectators at will. The tone of a brief
notice published by the Berliner Volks-Zeitung on May 14 reveals a
general suspicion of deceit associated with the hunger artists: "Nelson,
the hunger artist from Leipzig, who, as recently reported, was a swindler
and was taken to the hospital, has not kept his promise to put himself
at the disposal of the prosecuting attorney after his release from the
hospital. According to the Leipziger Tageszeitung, Nelson, together with
his manager, Schutzendiibel, disappeared from Leipzig."
What the spectacle of starvation lacks is a degree of contingency that
could relativize the hunger artists' professional self-control. Mountain
climbers, Channel swimmers, and aviators expose themselves to the
overwhelming powers of the elements, and runners and bicycle racers
reach speeds that exceed the brain's reaction time. Speed, nature, and
technology authenticate the seriousness of their confrontation with
death, whereas the hunger artists' psychic breakdowns cannot help appearing
artificial. [see Authenticity vs. Artificiality] Offering only minimal
visual excitement within any span of time that a spectator can afford
to spend in front of their boxes, the hunger artists perform feats that no
longer correspond to the latest fashions in staging the drama of human
existence. Their degree of personal agency remains too strong for starving
to be perceived as a confrontation with death; their frail bodies
underscore rather than question the strength of the human will. [see
Action vs. Impotence]
Since 1924, four short prose texts by Franz Kafka under the title Ein
Hungerkunstler have been on the market, in an edition by Die Schmiede,
which also publishes the poems of Johannes Becher (Wagenbach, 189).
The third of Kafka's pieces, which explores the psyche of a hunger artist,
begins by affirming that the great age of this profession is coming to an
end: "In the past few decades, interest in professional fasting has markedly
declined" (175). The protagonist thinks nostalgically of the days
when starving was an international sensation: "At any rate, one fine day
the pampered hunger artist suddenly found himself deserted by the
amusement seekers, who went streaming past him to other, more popular
attractions. For the last time, his manager sent him on a rapid tour
throughout half of Europe, to see whether the old interest mightn't still