The name ‘Gespreksgenoot’ is taken from Osip Mandelstam’s essay of the same name ‘Sobesednik’:

"Nothing is more frightening for a man than another man who is totally unconcerned with him."

A sentence from Osip Mandelstam’s essay ‘Sobesednik’ (Conversation Partner), published in 1913 in Russia.                                                    A Dutch anthology - ‘Wie een Hoefijzer vindt‘ (Who finds a Horseshoe) – published in 1981 by Van Oorschot, includes the translation of this sentence made by Kees Verheul.