Being invited to write about János is a bit like being asked to write the history of Hungary: one is honoured to be asked, but can’t help reflecting that there are other people better qualified. Nor does the similarity end there, because the history of both has been far more eventful over the past eighty years than that of other countries or individuals.
Блажен, кто посетил сей мир
В его минуты роковые.
I hope János thinks so. It is fitting therefore that it should have been he, as homo microcosmos, scilicet minor mundus (potiusve minor patria) who introduced so many of us to Hungary, to the CEU, and to the Department. All these are indelibly associated with János in the mind, and none can be imagined without him.
My first contact was with a mysterious voice over the telephone; since then its owner has been a guide through the arcana of the Department of Mediæval Studies, the perplexities of the Budapest rental housing market, and the workings of the CEU Senate, of all of which he evidently enjoys a complete command. Many are the memories, whether of Pannónia utca or of more far-flung parts of Pannonia, in which János is the central figure, though I doubt whether any of us has the complete set. But all of us, per orbem terrarum dispersi, will join in the acclamation: Boldog születésnapot kívánunk!
The emblem is enigmatic, like all good emblems, but considering how much effort János has devoted over the years to teaching people how to write, it will suit him.
Ralph Cleminson
