Paul Scheerbart (1863 1915) was a visionary German novelist, theorist, poet, and artist who made a lasting impression on such icons of modernism as Walter Benjamin, Bruno Taut, and Walter Gropius. Fascinated with the potential of glass architecture, Scheerbart s satirical fantasies envisioned an electrified future, a world composed entirely of crystalline, colored glass.
In 1912, Scheerbart published "The Light Club of Batavia," a "Novelle "about the formation of a club dedicated to building a spa for bathing not in water, but in light at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft. Translated...

German writer, critic, and theorist Paul Scheerbart (18631915) died nearly a century ago, but his influence is still being felt today. Considered by some a mad eccentric and by others a visionary political thinker in his own time, he is now experiencing a revival thanks to a new generation of scholars who are rightfully situating him in the modernist pantheon.
"Glass Love Perpetual Motion "is the first collection of Scheerbart s multifarious writings to be published in English. In addition to a selection of his fantastical short stories, it includes the influential architectural...