KATHY ACKER — Ultra light – last minute, ex + pop – literatur, Merve Verlag, Berlin, 1990

First edition, German-language collection, published by Merve Verlag, Berlin, 1990. Edited and translated by Almuth Carstens; with an interview by Sylvère Lotringer. Internationaler Merve Diskurs 155. Printed softcover; 163 pages; 12 × 17 cm. ISBN 3-88396-075-6.

Condition: good; general age-toning, rubbing and surface marking to wrappers, with light creasing, edge wear and softened corners. Binding appears intact; interior condition not confirmed.

Published by the influential West Berlin theory press Merve, this compact collection brings Acker’s writing into direct contact with questions of language, plagiarism, copyright, popular culture and literary ownership. The interview with Sylvère Lotringer is particularly important: Acker describes writing through existing texts less as passive copying than as movement around borrowed material — closer to improvisation, exchange and reuse.

The edition removes the familiar photographs, tattoos and punk imagery used to package many of Acker’s English-language books. In their place is Merve’s restrained publishing system: white card, a tilted green field and unadorned sans-serif type. A writer associated with transgression is reformatted as theory.

The publisher records the book as out of print.

Securely packed; tracked UK and international shipping available.