The Summer of Our Discontent
Negative Capability as an Alternative
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
What means are left in a situation where power itself works to leave Hungary’s social structure and legal system in ruins? We could accept the destruction, indulge individually in the melancholy, or respond collectively to the common sorrow, a Hungarianised Hüzün. We could retire to an ivory tower or go abroad and, with binoculars, watch the destruction from there. This is all nonsense. The right attitude holds Keats’s negative capability. In a situation full of uncertainties, secrets, and doubts, we should remain functional. It is all just a question of resolve.
(Osteuropa 12/2011, pp. 275–280)