Audio only

A Hunger Artist

By Franz KafkaNarrated by Cori Samuel
Length28m

About this audiobook

A Hunger Artist is a short story by Franz Kafka.  The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is an archetypical creation of Kafka: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large. The title of the story has been translated also to "A Fasting Artist" and "A Starvation Artist". A Hunger Artist explores the familiar Kafka themes of death, art, isolation, asceticism, spiritual poverty, futility, personal failure and the corruption of human relationships. There is a sharp division among critical interpretations of "A Hunger Artist". Most commentators concur that the story is an allegory, but they disagree as to what is represented. Some critics, pointing to the hunger artist's asceticism, regard him as a saintly or even Christ-like figure. In support of this view they emphasize the unworldliness of the protagonist, the priest-like quality of the watchers, and the traditional religious significance of the forty-day period. Other critics insist that A Hunger Artist is an allegory of the misunderstood artist, whose vision of transcendence and artistic excellence is rejected or ignored by the public. This interpretation is sometimes joined with a reading of the story as autobiographical. According to this view, this story, written near the end of Kafka's life, links the hunger artist with the author as an alienated artist who is dying. The moral of the story, says literature critic Maud Ellmann, is that it is not by food that we survive but by the gaze of others and "it is impossible to live by hunger unless we can be seen or represent doing so".

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.3 (25.8K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreLiterary Classics, Mystery and Thriller
Length28 mins
Narrated byCori Samuel
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateNov 22, 2021
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Opening Credits
2Chapter 1
3Closing Credits
BetrachtungFranz Kafka1h 47m3.8 (3.2K)$1 · $0.00
Un mensaje imperialFranz Kafka3m3.7 (946)$17 · $0.00
Carta al padreFranz Kafka2h 11m4.2 (82.4K)$17 · $0.00
La condenaFranz Kafka32m4.0 (31.7K)$17 · $0.00
Informe para la academiaFranz Kafka26m4.3 (13.8K)$17 · $0.00
La MetamorfosisFranz Kafka3h 2m4.0 (946.8K)$17 · $0.00
Una vieja páginaFranz Kafka6m4.3 (30)$17 · $0.00
Brief an den VaterFranz Kafka2h 7m4.2 (76.9K)$1 · $0.00
Der Prozess (Weltklassiker)Franz Kafka9h 16m4.2 (3.2K)$1 · $0.00
Franz Kafka: La metamorfosisFranz Kafka3h 46m4.2 (936.3K)$0.99 · $0.00
Bibliothek Europa: Aufbruch ins HeuteFranz Kafka, Sophokles, Sven Görtz, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, William Blake, Herman Bang, Charles Dickens, Rainer Maria Rilke, Alexandre Dumas, August Strindberg, Stefan Zweig, François Villon, Friedrich Nietzsche, Seneca, William Shakespeare62h 51m$47 · $0.00
The MetamorphosisFranz Kafka2h 13m4.1 (1.7M)$6 · $0.00
MetamorphosisFranz Kafka1h 56m4.1 (1.7M)$7 · $0.00
Racconti di Franz KafkaFranz Kafka44m4.4 (2.6K)$2 · $0.00
Der ProzessFranz Kafka18m4.1 (474.2K)$5 · $0.00
The CastleFranz Kafka9h 5m4.0 (93.1K)$15 · $0.00
MetamorphosisFranz Kafka2h 29m4.1 (1.7M)$1.99 · $0.00
Franz Kafka: Obras CompletasFranz Kafka67h 35m4.6 (1.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
Jüdisches literarisches Erbe – 70 Klassiker, die man kennen mussFranz Kafka, Arthur Schnitzler, Salomon An-ski, Karl Kraus, Franz Werfel, Joseph Roth, Jakob Wassermann, Stefan Zweig, Scholem Alejchem, Fritz Mauthner, Karl Emil Franzos, Ernst Toller, Berthold Auerbach, Egon Erwin Kisch, Peter Altenberg, Heinrich Heine, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud, Ernst Weiß, Walter Hasenclever, Hugo Salus, Oskar Baum, Edith Stein, Kurt Tucholsky, Friedrich Adler, Hermann Broch, Moses Mendelssohn, Karl Marx, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Theodor Herzl, Hugo Bettauer, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Karl Spindler, Walter Benjamin812h 3m$1 · $0.00
Franz Kafka: Die wichtigsten Erzählungen eines Genies (Kommentiert)Franz Kafka7h 25m$2 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
These Precious DaysAnn Patchett11h 14m4.5 (45.2K)$29 · $0.00
Your Faith Is Your FortuneNeville Goddard, Ale.mar.sas3h 43m4.6 (6K)$4.50 · $0.00
TWELFTH NIGHTWilliam Shakespeare, Sidney Lee16h 38m4.6 (2.8K)$0.99 · $0.00
The Complete Histories / History Plays of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare29h 42m4.6 (2.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 50m4.6 (1.3K)$0.99 · $0.00
H. P. LOVECRAFT Ultimate Collection: Novellas, Short Stories, Poetry & Essays (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft12h 28m4.6 (2.3K)$2 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust16h 8m4.5 (10.6K)$0.99 · $0.00
The Mis-Education of the NegroCarter Goodwin Woodson4h 32m4.5 (28.4K)$10 · $0.00
TORAH - Bilingual Edition: English/Hebrew (Annotated)Max Margolis, JPS28h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
Betty Crocker picture cooky bookBetty Crocker, Inc. General Mills2h 13m4.5 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Tales of Beatrix PotterBeatrix Potter3h 36m4.5 (75K)$3 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery11h 1m4.5 (1.2M)$2.30 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
The North American IndianEdward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge6h4.5 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Uncensored 13 Chapter Version + The Revised 20 Chapter Version (Annotated)Oscar Wilde16h 12m4.5 (2.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
Grimoire Of The Everyday WitchIsadora Lys / Virginia Santos5h 35m4.5 (3.9K)$9 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
Olympic Mountain PursuitJodie Bailey5h 55m4.6 (638)$12 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
Deadly Badlands PursuitSharee Stover5h 53m4.6 (361)$12 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
AngelAnita Waller10h 30m4.6 (672)$30 · $0.00
The BorderDon Winslow29h 8m4.5 (35.7K)$53 · $0.00
FlashpointCatherine Coulter11h 38m4.5 (11.6K)$29 · $0.00
Tracking Stolen SecretsLaura Scott5h 37m4.5 (2.2K)$12 · $0.00
The Gothic Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated Edition)Edgar Allan Poe21h 5m4.5 (2.9K)$0.99 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Fang Si-Chi's First Love ParadiseYi-Han Lin8h 25m4.5 (4K)$26 · $0.00
The Rose CodeKate Quinn16h 2m4.4 (493.7K)$33 · $0.00
No Woman Left BehindJulie Moffett8h 49m4.5 (3K)$25 · $0.00
CovertJanie Crouch6h 15m4.5 (2K)$12 · $0.00
Cold Case InvestigationNicole Helm5h 30m4.6 (321)$5 · $0.00
The Lost Weekend (Annotated)Charles Jackson9h 46m4.5 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
The ReunionJana DeLeon6h 31m4.5 (1.6K)$12 · $0.00
Courage Under FireSharon Dunn5h 50m4.5 (730)$24 · $0.00

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