Dr. Simon Schleusener

Research Interests

• History of American Literature
• Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Media Studies
• Cultural Theory and Theories of American Studies
• American Capitalism and the Neoliberal Imagination
• Affect Theory and the New Materialism
• Ecology and the Anthropocene
• Populism and the New Right
• Concept and Practice of Critique

Current Research Project

The Neoliberal Condition: Literature, Popular Culture, and Theory in the Era of the New Capitalism

Education

Dr. phil in American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (2012)

M.A. (Magister Artium) in North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (2003)

Publications

Monographs

• Schleusener, Simon. Kulturelle Komplexität: Gilles Deleuze und die Kulturtheorie der American Studies. Bielefeld: transcript (2015). https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839429891
  • Review by Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main): Amerikastudien/American Studies 64.3 (2019): 461-63. https://amst.winter-verlag.de/article/amst/2019/3/11/display/html
• Schleusener, Simon. Whitman, Miller, Kerouac: Spielarten eines amerikanischen Vitalismus. Berliner Beiträge zur Amerikanistik (Band 13). Berlin: John F. Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien, Freie Universität Berlin (2005).

Edited Volumes and Special Issues

• Chaouli, Michel, Jan Lietz, Jutta Müller-Tamm, and Simon Schleusener (Eds.). Stichwörter für die kritische Praxis. Zürich: Diaphanes (2023). https://www.diaphanes.net/titel/stichwoerter-fuer-die-kritische-praxis-7665 

• Schleusener, Simon (Ed.). Deleuze and the Material Turn. Special Issue. Deleuze and Guattari Studies 15.4 (2021). https://www.euppublishing.com/toc/dlgs/15/4 

• Chaouli, Michel, Jan Lietz, Jutta Müller-Tamm, and Simon Schleusener (Eds.). Poetic Critique: Encounters with Art and Literature. Berlin: De Gruyter (2021). https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110688719

• Cord, Florian, and Simon Schleusener (Eds.) Control Societies II: Philosophy, Politics, Economy Special Issue. Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power 6 (2020). https://coilsoftheserpent.org/category/issue-6-2020/ 

• Cord, Florian, and Simon Schleusener (Eds.). Control Societies I: Media, Culture, Technology. Special Issue. Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power 5 (2020). https://coilsoftheserpent.org/category/issue-5-2020/

Articles and Book Chapters

• Schleusener, Simon. “Models of Temporality: Neoliberalism, Cinema, and Complex Television”. James Dorson (Ed.). The Model in the World: Cultural Mediations of Economic Models (forthcoming).

• Schleusener, Simon. “George Santos”. Irina Gradinari and Tanja Prokić (Eds.). Reading the Stars. Eine Gegenwartsanalyse (forthcoming).

• Schleusener, Simon. “Abstract Soundscapes: Experimental Hip-Hop and the Aesthetics of Real Abstraction”. Martin Butler et al. (Eds.). American Soundscapes. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter (forthcoming).

• Schleusener, Simon. “Trump and Beyond: Populist Shock Politics and the Crisis of Democracy”. Lars Koch, Tobias Nanz, Christina Rogers (Eds). The Great Disruptor: Trump, the Media, and the Politics of Degradation. Berlin: Palgrave Macmillan (2025). 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-71155-2_3 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Kraft”. Michel Chaouli, Jan Lietz, Jutta Müller-Tamm, Simon Schleusener (Eds.). Stichwörter für die kritische Praxis. Zürich: Diaphanes (2023). 141-161. https://www.diaphanes.net/titel/kraft-7847 

• Chaouli, Michel, Jan Lietz, Jutta Müller-Tamm, and Simon Schleusener. “Einleitung”. Michel Chaouli et al. (Eds.). Stichwörter für die kritische Praxis. Zürich: Diaphanes (2023). 7-10. https://www.diaphanes.net/titel/einleitung-7836 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Spielarten der Kritik. Der Text und sein Außen”. WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 20, Heft 2 (2023): 23-48. https://doi.org/10.5771/1860-2177-2023-2-23

• Schleusener, Simon. “Trump als Symptom: Populistische Schockpolitik und die Krise der Demokratie”. Lars Koch, Tobias Nanz, Christina Rogers (Eds.). The Great Disruptor: Über Trump, die Medien und die Politik der Herabsetzung. 2. Auflage. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler (2023). 57-81. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66308-0_3 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Bilder der Herabsetzung: Ästhetik und Politik der Social Photography”. Elisabeth Heyne & Tanja Prokić (Eds.). Invective Gaze – Das digitale Bild und die Kultur der Beschämung. Bielefeld: transcript (2022). 57-92. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839457498-003

• Schleusener, Simon. “A Politics of Things? Deleuze and the New Materialism”. Deleuze and Guattari Studies 15.4. Special Issue: Deleuze and the Material Turn (2021): 523-542. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/dlgs.2021.0456 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Introduction: Deleuze and Materialism”. Deleuze and Guattari Studies 15.4. Special Issue: Deleuze and the Material Turn (2021): 471-476. https://doi.org/10.3366/dlgs.2021.0453

• Prokić, Tanja, and Simon Schleusener. “Globale Dissonanz: The Flight Attendant und das serielle Imaginäre” (with). Pop: Kultur und Kritik, Heft 19 (2021): 86-92. https://doi.org/10.14361/pop-2021-100214 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Surface, Distance, Depth: The Text and its Outside”. Michel Chaouli, Jan Lietz, Jutta Müller-Tamm, Simon Schleusener (Eds.). Poetic Critique: Encounters with Art and Literature. Berlin: De Gruyter (2021). 175-201. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110688719-013

• Chaouli, Michel, Jan Lietz, Jutta Müller-Tamm, and Simon Schleusener. “What Is Poetic Critique?” Michel Chaouli et al. (Eds.). Poetic Critique: Encounters with Art and Literature. Berlin: De Gruyter (2021). 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110688719-001

• Schleusener, Simon. “Again and Again and Again”. Amerikastudien / American Studies 66.1 (2021): 127-31. https://doi.org/10.33675/AMST/2021/1/22

• Schleusener, Simon. “Deleuze and Neoliberalism”. Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power 6. Special Issue: Control Societies II: Philosophy, Politics, Economy (2020): 39-54. https://coilsoftheserpent.org/2020/11/deleuze-and-neoliberalism/ 

• Cord, Florian, and Simon Schleusener. “Looking Backward at the Present, 2020–1990: Deleuze’s ‘Postscript on Control Societies’”. Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power 6. Special Issue: Control Societies II: Philosophy, Politics, Economy (2020): 1-6. https://coilsoftheserpent.org/2020/11/looking-backward-at-the-present-2020-1990/ 

• Cord, Florian, and Simon Schleusener. “Navigating the Coils of the Serpent”. Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power 5. Special Issue: Control Societies I: Media, Culture, Technology (2020): 1-13. https://coilsoftheserpent.org/2020/07/navigating-the-coils-of-the-serpent/ 

• Schleusener, Simon. “You’re Fired! Retrotopian Desire and Right-Wing Class Politics”. Gabriele Dietze and Julia Roth (Eds.). Right-Wing Populism and Gender: European Perspectives and Beyond. Bielefeld: transcript (2020). 185-206. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839449806-011

• Schleusener, Simon. “Trump als Symptom: Populistische Schockpolitik und die Krise der Demokratie”. Lars Koch, Tobias Nanz, Christina Rogers (Eds.). The Great Disruptor: Über Trump, die Medien und die Politik der Herabsetzung. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler (2020). 47-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-04976-6_3

• Schleusener, Simon. “The Machine Is the Garden – Concepts Of Ecology And Nature In The Anthropocene”. The New Polis (2019). https://thenewpolis.com/2019/10/08/the-machine-is-the-garden-concepts-of-ecology-and-nature-in-the-anthropocene/ 

• Schleusener, Simon. “The Surveillance Nexus: Digital Culture and the Society of Control”. REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature. Volume 34: Democratic Cultures and Populist Imaginaries (ed. by Donald E. Pease). Tübingen: Narr Verlag (2019): 175-201.

• Schleusener, Simon. “Post-Truth Politics: The New Right and the Postmodern Legacy”. Ilka Brasch and Ruth Mayer (Eds.). Modernities and Modernization in North America. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter (2018). 353-370.

• Schleusener, Simon. “Political Disconnects: Donald Trump, the Cultural Left, and the Crisis of Neoliberalism”. Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power 2 (2018): 20-34. https://coilsoftheserpent.org/2018/04/political-disconnects/ 

• Schleusener, Simon. “The Dialectics of Mobility: Capitalism and Apocalypse in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road”. European Journal of American Studies, 12.3 (2017). Special Issue: Cormac McCarthy Between Worlds: 1-14. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.12296

• Małecki, Wojciech, and Simon Schleusener. “‘What Affects are you Capable of?’ On Deleuze and Somaesthetics”. Simone Bignall, Sean Bowden, and Paul Patton (Eds.). Deleuze and Pragmatism. London and New York: Routledge (2015). 216-234. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315764870-15/affects-capable-deleuze-somaesthetics-wojciech-ma%C5%82ecki-simon-schleusener 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Neoliberal Affects: The Cultural Logic of Cool Capitalism”. REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature. Volume 30: Towards a Post-Exceptionalist American Studies (ed. by Winfried Fluck and Donald E. Pease). Tübingen: Narr Verlag (2014): 307-326.

• Schleusener, Simon. “The Cinema of Insanity: Psychiatry, Popular Culture, and the Flexibilization of Normality”. Laura Bieger and Christian Lammert (Eds.). Revisiting the Sixties: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on America’s Longest Decade. Frankfurt/M.: Campus (2013). 237-260.

• Schleusener, Simon. “Sovereignty at Sea: Moby Dick and the Politics of Desire”. REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature. Volume 27: States of Emergency – States of Crisis (ed. by Winfried Fluck, Katharina Motyl, Donald E. Pease, and Christoph Raetzsch). Tübingen: Narr Verlag (2011): 121-142.

• Schleusener, Simon. “’The Ward is a Factory’: Macht und Normalisierung in Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. Amerikastudien/American Studies, 51.4 (2006): 539-566. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41158262 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Deleuze und die American Studies”. Amerikastudien/American Studies, 49.2 (2004): 219-240. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41157931 

Reviews

• Schleusener, Simon. “Bernd Herzogenrath: An American Body|Politic – A Deleuzian Approach” (Review). Amerikastudien/American Studies, 57.3 (2012): 495-497. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23509551 

• Schleusener, Simon. “Paul Celan – Ilana Shmueli: Briefwechsel” (Review). Zeitschrift für Germanistik. Neue Folge, Heft 2 (2005): 453-454. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23978281 

Interviews

• Schleusener, Simon. “Tiefenzeit und Akzeleration. Gespräch mit dem Lyriker und Anthropozäntheoretiker Daniel Falb”. Johannes Pause & Tanja Prokic (Eds.). Zeiten der Natur. Konzeptionen der Tiefenzeit in der literarischen Moderne. (LiLi: Studien zu Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik, Band 5.) Stuttgart: Metzler (2023). 155-166. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-67588-5_10

Teaching

FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

• North American Cultural Studies (WiSe 2025/26)

• The Photographic Gaze: Visual Culture and American History (WiSe 2025/26)

• Neoliberalism and U.S. Self-Help Culture (WiSe 2025/26)

• Slave Narratives (WiSe 2025/26)

FU Berlin

• Climate Imaginaries: Cultural Perspectives on Ecological Crisis (WiSe 2024/25)

• Stichwörter für die kritische Praxis (with Michel Chaouli, Jan Lietz, and Jutta Müller-Tamm, SoSe 2022)

• Transformationen der Kritik (with Michel Chaouli, SoSe 2021)

• Der Streit um die Kritik (with Michel Chaouli, SoSe 2019)

• Genealogie der Kritik (with Michel Chaouli, SoSe 2018)

• Cultural Formations of American Capitalism (WiSe 2016/17)

• Neoliberal Culture (SoSe 2015)

• Social Photography (SoSe 2013)

• BA-Colloquium Kultur/Literatur (WiSe 2012/13)

• Europäische Amerikabilder (SoSe 2012)

• Der amerikanische Western (SoSe 2012)

• Literature and Culture of the Beat Generation (with Tomasz Stompor, WiSe 2011/12)

• Kultur des amerikanischen Kapitalismus (SoSe 2011)

• Temporale Fotografie (SoSe 2011)

• Inszenierte Fotografie (WiSe 2010/11)

• Amerikanische Mythen (WiSe 2010/11)

• Kulturgeschichte der amerikanischen Fotografie (WiSe 2009/10)

• Kulturelle Zoologie: Das Tier in der amerikanischen Kultur (WiSe 2009/10)

• Ästhetik der Spontaneität: Kunst, Literatur und Populärkultur in der amerikanischen Nachkriegsära (SoSe 2009)

• Mobilität in der amerikanischen Kultur (SoSe 2009)

• Key Concepts of American Culture (substitute for Johannes Völz, WiSe 2008/09)

• The Literature of Slavery and Abolition (substitute for Johannes Völz, WiSe 2008/09)

• Posthumanismus im amerikanischen Film (SoSe 2008)

• Wahnsinn und Normalität in der amerikanischen Kulturgeschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts (SoSe 2008)

• Herman Melville und die Kulturtheorie der American Studies (SoSe 2008)

• Herman Melville (WiSe 2007/08)

• Der europäische Amerikadiskurs im 20. Jahrhundert (WiSe 2007/08)

• Examensworkshop I: Literatur, Kultur, Sprache (SoSe 2007)

• Culture of Spontaneity (SoSe 2006)

• Ästhetik – Kultur – Macht: Ästhetische Theorie und amerikanische Kultur im 20. Jahrhundert (SoSe 2005)

University of Bonn

• Representations of American Poverty (WiSe 2024/25)

• The Neoliberal Self (WiSe 2024/25)

University of Würzburg

• What Was Postmodernism? (SoSe 2017)

• The Animal in American Literature (WiSe 2015/16)

• The Beat Generation (WiSe 2015/16)

• American Literature and the Culture of Capitalism (WiSe 2015/16)