Inspired by Maurice Blanchot’s existentialist novel Thomas the Obscure (1941), Hill portrays the act of reading and the comprehension of language as processes of erosion rather than accumulation. Hill is both author and reader; his exploration of the dialectical relationship between picture and word echoes Blanchot’s belief that literary compositions are organic entities separate from the external world, and that the solipsistic nature of humanity makes real communication almost impossible.
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