... especially the outgoing Director. Despite promising first impressions, the country’s new chief censor has been acting strangely. Is he too unstable to be trusted with the nation’s most sensitive materials? What is the new Director’s private, puzzling agenda?
No one else in the Bureau seems to sense the looming danger, so the outgoing Director begins to pen a missive to a distant recipient, the only person who might understand his plight, but also the man he dethroned in the first place – his own predecessor.
A tale of trysts, paranoia, poetry and state secrets, Blot is an audacious and original novel, filled with unquenchable desires and clandestine messages. It asks the nagging question on every page: can anyone trust the words they read?
This edition will be for sale in South Africa.
‘De Villiers’s hero comes from a long line of petty bureaucratic tyrants, but his Nabokov-flavoured prose is a joy to read.’
– J. M. Coetzee
‘An impressive debut. Rick de Villiers brings a fully formed voice to South African literature. While Blot is a book that, in many ways, speaks to this complex moment, it also places itself within a rich literary heritage from Orwell to Coetzee.'
– C. A. Davids
‘A love letter to literature from the most unlikely of candidates: the retiring director of a censorship bureau.’
– Bongani Kona
‘Blot will appeal to those who delight in language. Its Kafkaesque protagonist may work for the Bureau of Dead Letters but his story is lively, artful and full of surprises. Rick de Villiers’ debut novel is invigoratingly original.’
– David Medalie
'While De Villiers's literary progenitors may include Kafka and Beckett, and, in South Africa, Coetzee and Vladislavić, his voice is distinctly his own. Blot explores the complex ways power can shape or warp texts – and vice versa. It strikingly demonstrates the author's own power: dare to trust his words, and they will start shifting and slipping to expose what they conceal. A highly original novel, simultaneously playful and serious, mysterious and clarifying.'
– S. J. Naude
‘An incredible feat! In his debut novel, de Villiers manages both to pay homage to a particular literary tradition and be original at the same time. An absurdist and intriguing tale of succession.’
– Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
'Blot is a playful tale of textual manipulation, a satisfying narrative spun from censorial uncertainty, deceptive consultation and professional subterfuge. Reading in Blot is erotic, sure, but it is also at times emetic: either accepted into the body, or rejected, regurgitated, partly legible, wildly interpretable. In Beckettian fashion, nothing written can be known for sure – and therein lies the fun.'
– Hilary White
