Franz Kafka "A Hunger Artist"

In this short story, Franz Kafka tells the tale of an artist who finds that his art is fasting. I have read other Kafka's works before, and find that they are all rooted in depicting an emptiness in the story that he can never fill. For example in this story it was his stomach. This artist is actually a part of a circus, and his public who cheers him on is also his main source of confliction, for he thinks that they are the ones holding him back from achieving his greatness. He claims that fasting for 40 days is no feat at all, and that people are foolish for praising him for it. As time goes on and his popularity dies, he is left in his cage not as the main attraction but the opening to the animals in their cages. He is left unnoticed, and without the crowds attention fasts for many many days past his previous success's. He strave's himself to death, and claims it was because he never found it hard not to eat because he did not favor any taste of any food. I think that Kafka was a very lost soul.