Hunger artists or starvation artists were performers, common in Europe and America in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, who starved themselves for extended periods of time, for the amusement of paying audiences. The phenomenon first appeared in the 17th century and saw its heyday in the 1880s. Hunger artists were almost always male, traveled from city to city and performed widely advertised
fasts of up to 40 days. Several hunger artists were found to have cheated during their performances.
The phenomenon has been relayed to modern audiences through
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...
's 1922 short story "
A Hunger Artist
"A Hunger Artist" (German: "Ein Hungerkünstler") is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in '' Die neue Rundschau'' in 1922. The story was also included in the collection '' A Hunger Artist'' (''Ein Hungerkünstler''), the last book Ka ...
", contained in
the collection of the same name.
Hunger artists should be distinguished from two other phenomena of the time: "
Fasting Women" such as Martha Taylor and
Ann Moore who refused to eat while staying home, usually explained as some kind of
miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
and later exposed as fraud; and "Living Skeletons", people of exceptionally low body weight performing in
freak show
A freak show, also known as a creep show, is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with ...
s.
Sigal Gooldin sees hunger artists as "a modern spectacular version of the disciplined self" that can be interpreted in
Foucauldian
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
terms in the context of "the modern
governmentality
Governmentality is a concept first developed by the French philosopher Michel Foucault in the later years of his life, roughly between 1977 and his death in 1984, particularly in his lectures at the Collège de France during this time.
Governmenta ...
of ‘
biopower
Biopower (or ''biopouvoir'' in French) is a term coined by French scholar, philosopher, historian, and social theorist Michel Foucault. It relates to the practice of modern nation states and their regulation of their subjects through "an expl ...
’".
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References
Further reading
* Peter Payer, ''Hungerkünstler in Wien. Eine verschwundene Attraktion'', Verlag Sonderzahl, Wien 2002.
External links
Ruben De Somer: Fasting Wonders: The Hunger Artist From the 17th Through 20th Century
Performance art
Hunger
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