Jonathan Meese
DIE MONOSAU

More than 20 years after its creation, Jonathan Meese's "Episodic Novel on the Rocks" is available in bookshops for the first time. This edition is a scaled-down facsimile of the artist’s own 556-page version dating from 1996, and is based on one of ten original copies. The artist compiled photocopies in a binder, using predominantly German (but also a number of English) texts, most of which were in the form of typescripts. These texts were meticulously hand-typed by Brigitte Meese, the artist's mother. Also included are photographs by Stefan Thater showing Meese in his early installations. Meese sent draft copies of the book to prestigious German-language publishers. After consistently negative replies, he decided to instead turn this draft copy into an object. The back of this original reads "1789 d'END": Meese planned to revolutionize the genre of the literary novel, and created an artist's book. Now, the editors have embraced the artist's original idea and turned the book into a paperback. They and the author, "JONATHANERO...Z....MEESE", suggest: flip through and read aloud!