Mark von Schlegell

The publishing house Merve Verlag is hosting this evening on the rooftop terrace to celebrate the release of the new book "Realometer – American Romance” (IMD 322) by Mark von Schlegell. The author will tell us about his approach to writing and particularly about the research process behind the essays in "Realometer". In the company of writers like Adam Smith, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville and James Tiptree Jr. as well as with the aid of Thoreaus’ realometer (Walden), Schlegell explores questions regarding the correlations between a genuinely American style of writing and a fundamental reality.

"The realometer is like a machine. The realometer reflects the light of the living world of consciousness as it rolls written through recorded time, romancing an ever-changing real."

Mark von Schlegell (b. 1967 in New York) is an American science fiction writer and cultural critic. His numerous essays have appeared in magazines such as: "Parkett", "Arttext", "Flash Art". His most recently published books are the novels Venusia (2005) and Mercury Station (2009), both with Semiotext(e); and the novella High Wichita (2006, Pork Salad Press). Schlegell lives and works in Cologne.

In cooperation with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Merve Verlag