[Membroj] Esperanto as metaphor for the (lowest) common denominator

[Ralph Dumain]

I continue to unearth examples of Esperanto as a metaphor; of late, 
I'm encountering this in the black press, the literature of the black 
diaspora, or in scholarly/historical works. For example:

"[Langston] Hughes's attempt [1932-1938] to create a working class 
aesthetic with mass appeal must be construed as a utopian project, 
however. It points to the problem of creating a truly collective 
poetry of form. That now quaint cityspeak of much 1930s poetry (the 
versified "hey buddy, can you spare a dime" line) cannot be construed 
as a "universal" American working class dialect, a workers' Esperanto 
of sorts."

  SOURCE: Dawahare, Anthony. 'Langston Hughes's radical poetry and 
the "end of race",' MELUS 23: 3, pp. 21-41. (Fall 1998).

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