The story deals with a fasting artist who regards fasting as an art. He performs long periods of fasting on stage, drawing the audience's attention, but over time, he becomes increasingly alienated as the public loses interest. While continuing his fasting at a circus, he ultimately dies in neglect. The fasting artist confesses that he could not practice any other art, revealing the agony of an artist and the limits of human existence. The work symbolically portrays the alienation of art and artists, as well as societal indifference. Through this, Kafka explores the absurdity and loneliness of human existence.
