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A Hunger Artist Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph) We used Stanley Corngold's translation.

Quote #1

[…] pale in a black leotard, with strongly protruding ribs, even disdaining a chair, he sat on spread straw […] (1)

This grotesque image of the artist's emaciated body should be appalling, but the crowd eats it up (pun intended). This may not be a strange as it sounds. Can you think of any gross spectacles that modern audiences can't get enough of (maybe something on reality TV…)?

Quote #2

Nothing tormented the starvation artist more than such watchmen; they made him melancholy; they made his starving terribly difficult […] (2)

The fact that the watchmen don't understand him causes the artist a lot of mental suffering. Why does the artist ache for them to believe him?

Quote #3

[…] he was so emaciated only from dissatisfaction with himself. (3)

Surprise – it isn't the hunger that is making the artist so thin, but rather his inability to reach the heights of his art.