[The Trend, Expressionism in “A Hunger Artist”]
Expressionism is a term used to denote the use of distortion and exaggeration for emotional effect, which first surfaced in the art literature of the early twentieth century. When applied in a stylistic sense, with reference in particular to the use of intense colour, agitated brushstrokes, and disjointed space. Rather than a single style, it was a climate that affected not only the fine arts but also dance, cinema, literature and the theatre (www.wikipedia.com). Moreover, expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist attempts to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him. He accomplishes his aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements.
In literature, expressionism is a movement or writing technique in which a writer depicts a character’s feelings about a subject (or the writer’s own feelings about it) rather than the objective, surface reality of the subject. A writer, in effect, presents his interpretation of what he sees. Often, the depiction is a grotesque distortion or phantasmagoric representation of reality. However, there is logic to this approach for these reasons: (1) Not everybody perceives the world in the same way. What one person may see as beautiful or good another person may see as ugly or bad. Sometimes a writer or his character suffers from a mental debility, such as depression or paranoia, which alters his perception of reality. Expressionism enables the writer to present this altered perception. Expressionist writers often present the real world as bizarre, fantastic, and nightmarish because that is how they, or the characters in their works, see the world. Their distortions are the real world (Cummings, 1999).
In a broader sense Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later 19th and the 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements. The hunger artist, the protagonist of the story, is seen by those around as being strange, bizarre, because they do not see him as fully human. After all, he refuses to do something basic to life--to eat food. Watching this artist fast in his cage transports the people to some peculiar consciousness beyond their familiar everyday world, although it is unlikely they could articulate that consciousness. The hunger artist's art in that sense can be compared to the work of abstract artists whose painting, or performance works, fascinate and sometimes threaten or frighten the mundane lives of the people in any society.
The Hunger Artist frightens the people of his looks and appearance. Some are sympathetic to what he is struggling but the Hunger Artists perceives their words as a ridicule. He appreciates his job as an art which other people reflects as castigation for the artist.
“And if a good-natured man who felt sorry for him ever wanted to explain to him that his sadness probably came from his fasting, then it could happen, especially at an advanced stage of the fasting, that the hunger artist responded with an outburst of rage and began to shake the cage like an animal, frightening everyone.”
“…when she couldn’t manage this and her more fortunate companion didn’t come to her assistance but trembled and remained content to hold in front of her the hunger artist’s hand, that small bundle of knuckles, she broke into tears…”
During May 1924, Kafka was editing one of his best short stories: A Hunger Artist. In fitting irony, Kafka himself was starving as a result of his tuberculosis, which had made it nearly impossible to eat solid foods. Kafka was editing the final proofs of A Hunger Artist when he died in Wiener Wald Sanatorium on 3 June 1924 (Brod, 1995). So much of early expressionism was used in a negative way due to artists own emotional/mental problems, for example, fear of death, fear of being alone, or exclusion from society. To which this brought on work that represented pain, destruction, dark drama and doom and gloom.
The story describes the act — and predicament — of a hunger artist, a professional faster. The hunger artist would fast for days at a time, attracting large crowds at carnivals with his ability to do without nourishment. In many ways he was admired for an apparent sacrifice. But with time the crowds dwindled and the hunger artist no longer attracted carnival guests. This was due to the emerging industrialized life in the early tweinth century.
“During these last decades the interest in professional fasting has markedly diminished. It used to pay very well to stage such great performances under one’s own management, but today that is quite impossible. We live in a different world now. At one time the whole town took a lively interest in the hunger artist….”
Kafka attempted to portray the inner workings of a person's mind by, effectively, turning them ‘inside out’ and allowing mental states to shape their face, body, and even the world in which they live. This proves the physical distortion of the protagonist. Cited below are the physical appearances of the Hunger Artist:
”While for grown-ups the hunger artist was often merely a joke, something they participated in because it was fashionable, the children looked on amazed, their mouths open, holding each other’s hands for safety, as he sat there on scattered straw—spurning a chair—in black tights, looking pale, with his ribs sticking out prominently, sometimes nodding politely, answering questions with a forced smile, even sticking his arm out through the bars to let people feel how emaciated he was, but then completely sinking back into himself, so that he paid no attention to anything, not even to what was so important to him, the striking of the clock, which was the single furnishing in the cage, but merely looking out in front of him with his eyes almost shut and now and then sipping from a tiny glass of water to moisten his lips.”
“Of course, he still freely laid his bony arms in the helpful outstretched hands of the ladies bending over him, but he did not want to stand up.”
The physical consequences of a distorted situation are followed through as if it were completely real. Expressionist writers divide over the final consequences of this. Personal tragedies usually end in the destruction of the character. This notion is proven as the Hunger Artist died in the end of the story due to his “profession”.
“All right, tidy this up now,” said the supervisor. And they buried the hunger artist along with the straw.”
The obvious comparison is between Kafka and the hunger artist. Kafka, like many writers, believed he was driven to write — not necessarily enjoying the act of creation. In fact, writing was a troubling and almost painful process for Kafka. The hunger artist did not so much choose to be a professional faster as he simply was inclined to fast.
"I always wanted you to admire my fasting," said the hunger artist.
"We do admire it," said the overseer, affably.
"But you shouldn't admire it," said the hunger artist.
"Well then we don't admire it," said the hunger artist, "but why shouldn't we admire it?"
"Because I have to fast, I can't help it," said the hunger artist.
The remainder of the story is quite amazing. The artist dies as one expects, only to be replaced by a panther — kept in the same cage the artist once occupied. The death of the Hunger artist shows an expressionist feature when a protagonist of such stories mainly die at the end because of the “principle” he lives.
A Hunger Artist through Psychological Approach
Critics, rhetoricians, and philosophers since Aristotle have examined the psychological dimensions of literature, ranging from an author’s motivation and intentions to the effect of texts and performances on an audience (Habib, 2005).
Franz Kafka was well primed to write a novel about an isolated individual. Many things from Kafka’s life experiences motivated him to write such stories. Moreover, throughout his life, he was never close to his parents, Hermann Kafka and Julie Löwy Kafka. His father, a successful merchant, was a tyrant who bullied Franz psychologically. Although Kafka had relationships with several women, one to whom he was engaged, he never married. Those mentioned above are some of the biographical facts that caused his writing style. He wrote a large number of short stories about the impotence of individuals swept up into governmental, legal or bureaucratic madness. He also covered fear, paranoia and impotence in many forms, as well as the outsider syndrome. As a result, Kafkaesque has come to mean having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality.
The positing of an unconscious as the ultimate source and explanation of human thought and behaviour represented a radical disruption of the main streams of Western thought which, since Aristotle, had held that man was essentially a rational being, capable of making free choices in the spheres of intellection and morality (Habib, 2005). The Hunger Artist, in the context of the story, earns fame and glory but is dissatisfied because his manager limits his fasting to forty days. He sees himself as a part of the society because of such reasons. But in a deeper sense, indeed, he is a part of the society but he is tormented because of his “profession”. He is unconscious of what his job’s effect on him. He even blames the society of not understanding them, the hunger artists. He got unreasonable knowing that his job is a noble profession but in clarity, fasting is a form of craziness for a person like the Hunger Artist who taught it as a living but in the end, he suffers and unfortunately, dies.
According to Freud, human beings are not conscious of all their feelings, urges and desires because most of mental life is unconscious. He compared the mind to an iceberg: only a small portion is visible; the rest is below the waves of the sea. Thus, the mind consists of a small conscious portion and a vast unconscious portion (Lund, 1996). The hunger artist was unconscious of what other people see of/in him. He is not human for some people, for some a priceless beggar; but for him, he is a star, glittering with fame and money.
For a time, the hunger artist lives in visible glory, honoured by the world.
With the kind of art, the Hunger artist have, he was being repressed by himself along. The desires he have has unconsciously sublimate his gathered identity. His id, removed from reality, and it has accompanied by his ego. There was no balance to his psyche therefore it determined his death.
Not only was the artist clearly insane for starving himself to the point of death, but the neglect by the circus supervisor is just disgusting. The impresario was a money hawk, but at least he kept the Hunger Artist alive.
The revelation of the story is an artist must surrender their existence and engrave what they have lived, learned, and experienced for the sake of their art. This story is written about the life and career of an actual hunger artist, and this story is metaphorically dedicated to "the great suffering" a writer or artist must undergo to be successful. This is essential for an artist to grasp the splendor or malice of life with a fervor and be sufficiently resilient to capture the state of affairs of the moment.
The life and perspectives of a writer can be clearly represented in the Hunger Artist, which is applied to correspond to the life of "the starving artist". The elders in the community regarded the artist to be "just a joke". This is often comparable with the life of any artist who are fortunate if they are measured a success to the entertainment or public eye before their deaths. These writers or artist are often described as "starving artists" themselves in our society.
"The honor of his profession forbade it." depicts the hunger artists' zeal obligatory to execute his art. Moreover, the artists' declares he was starving himself "because I couldn't find the food I liked. If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else (803)." These quotes signify the ardor and perseverance any artist must encompass to maintain engaging the masses notwithstanding being under the supervision of the public interest.
With the use of the psychological approach and the integration of the trend of Expressionism, there is betterment in the understanding of the short story and the deeper facts lingering in the story. The bizarre, primordial stuffs that comprise the story are horrendous. This story is disturbing from front to back, but it’s like a train wreck or a really good house fire. But still, it’s a good read.
Bibliography:
Brod, Max trans. G. Humphreys Roberts and Richard Winston; Franz Kafka: A Biography (New York: Da Capo Press, 1937. 1995)
Cummings, Michael J. A Hunger Artist (Ein Hungerkünstler). 1999.
Habib, M.A.K. A History of Literary Criticism. From Plato to the present. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing House, 2005.
Kafka, Franz. trans. Johnston, Ian; Franz Kafka: A Hunger Artist. (Nanaimo, BC: University of Malaspina, 1924, 2011)
Lund, Mark. Literary Criticism. Baltimore County Public Schools, 1996.
Friday, October 21, 2011
[unclean, not edited post]Regine Phoelea Mae F. del Carmen
As Donya Teodora
“No one left behind”, these words started my career as a stage actress portraying Donya Teodora, a loving old mother of Jose Rizal. As I uttered those words, Sir Larry assigned me to an exigent task in which I should be memorizing long lines and internalizing a character which was very odd to me.
When Sir Larry started to cast the characters for the plays, I wished to be one of the Chorus of Women in Electra but it turned a way around, I was to perform in a play entitled Parting at Calamba as a mother of the national hero of my own country. I was shocked. The first thing I did was to see the script for me to know the length of my lines, and it was quite long; I even got three entrances.
After the roles were designated, we started to throw lines. At first it was so simple, we just read it aloud but it the long run, the character’s attitudes must be slowly got into our spines. For me, internalizing Donya Teodora was a tough job. She is a loving mother and she is also firm and authoritative, above all, I needed to imitate the voice of her which was the hardest part of all. I needed to download videos and self-help stuffs on how to make my voice sound older but firm.
Play dates were fast approaching and all were serious in practicing, memorizing lines and producing what was needed for the stage to look like one of the Mercado-Rizal family. That time, I already memorized most of the lines but I sometimes forget some of it due to nervousness. Stage fright and anxiety affects me when I utter my lines.
Naturalism through Sociological Approach in Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton
[Naturalism, the Trend]
Naturalism is a theory in literature which emphasizes the role of environment upon human characters. It is an extreme form of realism which arose in the early 20th century. Rather than focusing on the internal qualities of their characters, authors called out the effects of heredity and environment, outside forces, on humanity
The story was set on 1890’s when Wharton's success at depicting New York society led some readers to believe that she was simply a society novelist. This following citation proves her hit in illustrating what New York was as written by Wharton;
“These three houses fairly exemplified the general character of the
street, which, as it stretched eastward, rapidly fell from shabbiness to
squalor, with an increasing frequency of projecting sign-boards, and of
swinging doors that softly shut or opened at the touch of red-nosed men
and pale little girls with broken jugs. The middle of the street was
full of irregular depressions, well adapted to retain the long swirls of
dust and straw and twisted paper that the wind drove up and down its sad
untended length; and toward the end of the day, when traffic had been
active, the fissured pavement formed a mosaic of coloured hand-bills,
lids of tomato-cans, old shoes, cigar-stumps and banana skins, cemented
together by a layer of mud, or veiled in a powdering of dust, as the
state of the weather determined.” Page 270
Moreover, Wharton's New York novels are often called novels of manners, a term that describes works depicting a particular social class and way of life, the action of which revolves around social situations and their resolution
Furthermore, Edith Wharton’s critics have often disregard the significance of her twenty-three-year resolve to see published her earliest long work of fiction, Bunner Sisters (1892). Recently, however, Donna M. Campbell has suggested a valid cause for Wharton associated this novella with an emerging image of herself as a professional novelist. According to Campbell, in writing Bunner Sisters Wharton aligned herself with the professionalism of literary naturalism in order to make a statement against amateuristic late nineteenth-century local-color fiction often written by women
Bunner Sisters
[Naturalism through Sociological Approach]
Wharton’s work, Bunner Sisters, portrays pressures that are uniquely destructive to her characters, especially the sort of characters commonly found in the local color fiction. The story provides, as Campbell explains, “a chilling commentary upon the limitations of local color fiction in a naturalistic world that encroaches upon and threatens its ideals.” The radicals that are shown in the story of the Bunner Sisters elaborate the veracity of events in that certain time which Edith Wharton subjected as the setting of the story. As her first long piece of serious fiction, Wharton weaved the luckless history of the Bunners with emerging society.
Sociological criticism focuses on the relationship between literature and society. Literature is always produced in a social context. Writers may affirm or criticize the values of the society in which they live, but they write for an audience and that audience is society. Through the ages the writer has performed the functions of priest, prophet and entertainer: all of these are important social roles. The social function of literature is the domain of the sociological critic
The writing style of Wharton is unlike others, as she uses words that not only describe a scene in an era or condition, but with descriptive phrases that depict feelings, moods, attitudes, and mystery. She has given the reader just enough information about the man to carry the story forward without revealing too much. The air of mystery is always around as we learn about the man, his relationship with the sisters and the confidence they have in him. This is a wonderful read on the socio-economic hard times during the era, the smaller run dressmaking industry, and mostly, relationships between three people
The story happened in a time when immigrants go to New York. There were a total of about 2,000 ship voyages per year recorded in the 1890-1891 rolls of microfilms. Of those 4,000 voyages, 1,375 voyages had at least one passenger on board who was listed as a citizen of Austria, Poland, or Galicia. There were 136 unique ships with that characteristic. This fact manifests a diversified culture existing in New York and in America. This also promotes a socio-economic growth as the immigrants believe to have a brighter future in the United States. In the case of the Bunner Sisters, they have a stable income letting them to live properly as cited below;
“The Bunner sisters were proud of the neatness of their shop and content
with its humble prosperity. It was not what they had once imagined it
would be, but though it presented but a shrunken image of their earlier
ambitions it enabled them to pay their rent and keep themselves alive
and out of debt; and it was long since their hopes had soared higher.” Page 270
The Progressive Era was a time period in American history lasting from the 1890s through the 1920s. At the turn of the century, America was experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization. Waves of immigrants were arriving, many from southeastern Europe. As a result of these processes, countless city dwellers were crowded into tenement slums, with high rates of disease and infant mortality. In urban areas, party bosses controlled power through political machines. In addition, corporations were consolidating into “trusts” and a few companies controlled the majority of the nation’s finances
“"The baby?" Ann Eliza faltered.
"It's dead--it only lived a day. When he found out about it, he got mad,
and said he hadn't any money to pay doctors' bills, and I'd better
write to you to help us. He had an idea you had money hidden away that
I didn't know about." She turned to her sister with remorseful eyes. "It
was him that made me get that hundred dollars out of you."” Page 331
The status of women was changing rapidly in the Progressive Era. For the most part, middle-class white married women still did not work outside the home. Women workers were primarily young and single, or widows, divorcees, poor married women, and/or women of color. In addition, most women continued to work in agriculture, in factories, and as domestic servants. African American women, in particular, worked as domestic servants in large numbers. It is vivid in the story the social status of the sisters; they are of the middle-class as they are permitted to have a husband. They are also women workers, they work for themselves in the Bunner Sisters (same name for their shop).
However, new jobs were opening up for some women as well. Many women began to find employment in department stores. Middle-class women were able to find jobs as clerical workers (typists, clerks, and telephone operators). Finally, more middle- and upper class women were graduating from college and entering white-collar professions. A few women excelled as lawyers, doctors, journalists, and scientists. At the time, however, professional women often chose or were forced to remain single. After the inutility of the self-sacrifice of Ann Eliza for Evelina who had died, she pursued for a job in department store but failed in her attempt and remained single to the end of the story. Here’s a citation;
“"Saleslady? Yes, we do want one. Have you any one to recommend?" the
young woman asked, not unkindly.
Ann Eliza hesitated, disconcerted by the unexpected question; and the
other, cocking her head on one side to study the effect of the bow she
had just sewed on the basket, continued: "We can't afford more than
thirty dollars a month, but the work is light. She would be expected to
do a little fancy sewing between times. We want a bright girl: stylish,
and pleasant manners. You know what I mean. Not over thirty, anyhow; and
nice-looking. Will you write down the name?"” Page 342
Recognizing the changes that were occurring in the lives of some women, the public and the press coined a phrase for these women, the “New Woman.” The “New Woman” was supposedly young, college educated, active in sports, interested in pursuing a career, and looking for a marriage based on equality
Conclusion
Comprehension and discernment to the story of the Bunner Sisters are best undertaken with the integration of the Sociological approach to the theory of literature, Naturalism. The society in which the said masterpiece of Edith Wharton is plotted creates a deep impression of what is the social order of the men especially the women in that period. It reflects what are the people and what are they living and struggling for. Moreover, the identification and description of the society and the era of New York City back to the years of progression helped to dissect the intent of the novel.
In conclusion, Bunner Sisters, a novel of Edith Wharton pours a high value of social context in the mind of its readers.
Campbell, D. m. (2010, July 28). Naturalism in American Literature. Retrieved September 10, 2011, from Donna M. Campbell: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm
Flanagan, M. (2011). About.com. Retrieved September 10, 2011, from Contemporary Literature: http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/naturalism.htm
Flower, Dean S. (1967). Eight Short Novels. Toronto, Canada: Ballantine Books.
Kornasky, L. (1997). On "Listening to Spectres too": Wharton's Bunner Sisters and Ideologies of Sexual Selection. Illinois, USA: University of Illinois Press.
Lund, M. (1996). Literary Criticism. Retrieved September 12, 2011, from http://www.teachrobb.com/documents/Criticism.htm#Contents
National Women's Museum. (2007). Retrieved September 12, 2011, from Reforming their World: Women in the Progressive Era: http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/home.html
Rizzuto, M. (2011). The Bunner Sisters. Retrieved September 10, 2011, from The Literature Network: http://www.online-literature.com/wharton/bunner/
_________________________
I added cool smileys to this message... if you don't see them go to: http://e.exps.me
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)