"feel a handshake"

Does the master choose his disciple, or does the disciple choose his master? It is fruitful if all this happens on the basis of mutual sympathy. In fiction, this relationship based on a voluntary teaching-educational task is initially highly valued, then gradually transforms into a more cordial collegiality, and in even more fortunate cases, into an eternal friendship. How did it happen in the early years? What intellectual crutches did I encounter at the beginning of my career, when I first began to get acquainted with the seemingly mysterious mysteries of poetics? As a high school senior, I received a book of poems as a gift from a friend for my graduation. The dedication consisted of four lines of quotations from Mihály Váci's poem Pure and Good: And let them feel a handshake about you, / that you want good and you are pure and good too; / and let one look of theirs convince you: / you live for a beautiful thing and it is worth living!. Thus began the magic in the sanctuary of literature. The support of János Bárdosi Németh, Péter Vasadi, András Fodor, Dezső Tandori, Mihály Ladányi, Tibor Tüskés and András Bíró has been an unforgettable companion throughout my career. There is always a lot to learn from older, more experienced writers; our correspondence about poetry, the real handshakes of personal meetings have proven to be decisive in my creative activity. I remember them in this book, many of whom, unfortunately, can only be with me in their actual spirit, and we often mention their personalities with those who have trained themselves to be my living contemporaries in existence.