188 HUNGARIAN LITERATURE straight away. But I do not like dictating ; white I am at work I do not wish to see a. human face. When I sit down to write I am able to do as much as sixteen printed pages at one sitting, and sometimes even twice that number, with out the need for any corrections, even so much as a single word. That imagination has taken the place of memory is shown by the fact that after a year l am able to read my own novel as if it were the work of another. l am quite ign orant of contents and very curious to know how my hero will get out of the scrape into which he has fallen . " If my characters have many faults it is because l do not see them clearly enough. If I regarded them and moulded them as an outsider might, perhaps they would stand more firmly upon their feet, but what about their wings ? Well, this fault of mine l shall never be able to mend. l am gro wing older but not wiser, so my readers must just take my characters as they have done these forty years. " l do not regard it as a merit that I have worked much, nor do I ask anything from the present or posterity on that acc ount. l do not even ask that people shall read my works. I wrote them in the first place for myself and found happiness in the work. This was my world, my life's secret, the gu ide upon my path, my comfort in adversity and my defence in danger ; it gave me hope for better times, resignation, and renewed strength for fresh efforts. AU this have I gained from my desk. It has restored to me my lost fortune, has helped me to repel the attacks of my enemies and encouraged m e to begin a new life. For forty years we two have been conversing tagether and we still have many thoughts to exchange.
