The signal's coming from Pittsburgh
Everyone feels compelled to point out that when Kafka read his stories to his circle, they, or maybe just he, found them laugh-out-loud funny, but no one ever seems terribly motivated to explain what's so funny about them. Since exhaustive research indicates that the following insight has not yet been made, or made widely known, I share it with you all: "A Hunger Artist" is a shaggy dog story. Big buildup, and it turns out: the guy's just never found anything he really likes.
Comments
on 2008-04-20 9:15:30.0, JP Stormcrow commented:
I've been warily circling this post since it clearly serves as the setup to a punchline which I cannot decipher. Only a fool would comment in the face of that. I wouldn't normally, but I loved the way the title speaks to the replacement of the artist with a lion at the end of the story. So many of us doomed to labor in a state of barely perceived penned-uppedness.
and, further, on 2008-04-20 9:20:05.0, ben wolfson commented:
Do lions come from Pittsburgh?
(The actual origin of the title. This post is meant completely in earnest. I had a revelation while, and because, I was brushing my teeth.)
and, further, on 2008-04-20 10:05:47.0, JP Stormcrow commented:
Do lions come from Pittsburgh?
No, but Panthers (actual animal in the story, and the only part of the story that seems to make it more than your shaggy dog) come from Pittsburgh (University of). The Lions are from Penn State.
Origin of the title: "normally, but I loved" (admittedly only from Googling the title, where you've jumped ahead of them in the results.)
and, further, on 2008-04-20 11:42:55.0, ben wolfson commented:
Well aren't you the clever one.
The story does continue after the punchline, but that's just an additional fillip. Kafka was a genius, you know.
and, further, on 2008-04-20 0:00:46.0, abc commented:
i thought the punchline was the last line of the post and that it could have been remedied if only he'd have taken something dopaminergic coincidentally with something he'd like, not crude drugs of course, that would be gross, just, for example, uni, you don't know why you like it - turns out it's full of dopamine or chocolate or something equally delicious or stimulating
and, further, on 2008-04-20 0:03:14.0, abc commented:
not just something to eat of course could be anything stimulating the senses
and, further, on 2008-04-20 15:26:01.0, JP Stormcrow commented:
"It's Always Worth While Trading Blog Comments With a Clever Man", or so I've read.
Kafka seems to have basically starved to death (his throat ravaged so badly by tuberculosis that he could barely eat and drink).