what new hunger does richard develop and why is it dangerous?

Richard yearns to know more about the authors he alludes to: Conrad, Lewis, Dostoyevski, Flaubert, and more. Richard sits up in his room, eating out of cans while reading great literary works and feeding his hunger.

In Richard's first hunger, he used to eat crusts of bread to stop the pain. In this new hunger of the great depression he had nothing to eat, the incessant pain he was feeling was all because of his father's aboundence and their privation.