From a March 10, 2004, entry:
“Language was no more than a collection of meaningless conventional signs, and life could absurdly end at any moment. [Mallarmé] became aware, in Millan’s* words, ‘of the extremely fine line
separating absence and presence, being and nothingness, life and death, which
— John Simon, Squaring the Circle
* A Throw of the Dice: The Life of Stéphane Mallarmé, by Gordon Millan
For those who prefer
art that is more lurid:
(Photo in lower half
from Cinetribulations)
Related material: