The Power of Langston Hughes's 'Melancholy Citizenship'
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-20-2022
Publisher
Aeon Media
Language
en-US
Abstract
To better understand what it’s like to deal with democratic heartbreak, we would do well to pay more attention to artists such as Langston Hughes (1901-67), a committed political radical. Hughes’s poetry speaks to anyone ‘vitally concerned’ about their country’s ‘mores, its democracy, and its well-being’. He gives us an inspiring account of what a political community could look like and what a citizen might do in the face of injustice and neglect. Hughes’s advice is twofold: first, to see the community as it is, forged through material contest. Second, Hughes shows how to practise the ethics of melancholy citizenship. In doing so, he offers a style of democratic politics that taps into people’s pain to lift them to opportunity and more meaningful forms of belonging.
Recommended Citation
Robert L. Tsai,
The Power of Langston Hughes's 'Melancholy Citizenship'
,
in
Psyche
(2022).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/shorter_works/253
Publisher URL
https://psyche.co/ideas/the-power-of-langston-hughess-melancholy-citizenship
