Franz Kafka: the hunger artist

Summary Franz Kafka has often been posthumously diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, but recent research impels a re-evaluation of his disordered eating. This study presents a qualitative analysis of Kafka’s diaries, correspondence, medical reports and fiction, focusing on appetite, diet, somatic symptoms, and cognitions concerning food and fasting. Diagnostic indicators are matched against DSM-5 criteria for anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. Kafka’s clinical profile, which is characterised by diminished appetite, anorexia, selective intake, obsessive mastication, low body weight and undernourishment needing repeated sanatorium admissions, suggests a presentation more consistent with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. These disturbances are reflected in his fiction, in which food operates as a symbolic register of alienation, ontological anxiety and existential resistance, most notably in The Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist. Integration of medical and literary perspectives demonstrates the clinical value of phenomenological evidence in capturing lived experience of eating disorders, enriching diagnostic insight by foregrounding cognitive, psychosocial and cultural contexts.