The phrase "a mere reality" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to emphasize the simplicity or unembellished nature of a situation or fact.
Example: "Despite the grand promises, the outcome was just a mere reality that we had to face."
Alternatives: "a simple truth" or "an undeniable fact".
If the meaning of the Moon landing as a singular event was hard for writers and their alter egos to discern, that may be because it had already been so thoroughly anticipated, realized in a way that mere reality could not quite match.
Suddenly, I saw our battalion commander, Colonel Timothy Halloran (Happy was his nickname), take a seat on a nearby bench, and the mere reality of his presence soothed me a bit, as often happened when he hove into sight.
Its short-lived existence as mere reality had come to an end; it was geometry now.
"I point an arrow to where the feature occurred". A few hundred yards along, there was another new sign: "East End Rd". Its short-lived existence as mere reality had come to an end; it was geometry now.
Gazprom doesn't interfere with programming choices, says Mr Petrenko but then TNT concentrates on mere "reality".
It uses every trick in the theatrical arsenal, from crudest slapstick to purest lyricism, to keep this "Servant" floating well beyond the reach of mere reality.
Pears's ethereal voice lends an element of innocence to this harrowing depiction of a wandering loner with a mere toehold in reality.
A movie isn't a mere reflection of reality but, more important, an expansion of it, and that's what lots of viewers are seeking and getting from this one.
At times they are represented by their shadows on the wall — a riff on Plato's allegory of the cave, in which human life on earth is revealed as a mere illusion of reality.
