Imaginationen der Angst: Das christliche Wunderbare und das Phantastische

Offermann Hergarten Prize 2019

Depictions of the fantastic in modern literature established the fear of the supernatural. Premodern literary texts lack such targeted evocations of horror. To find them, one must turn instead to Christian exempla, which seek to frighten readers in teaching them a lesson. Imaginations of Fear discusses the hitherto unappreciated significance of the “merveilleux Chrétien” for the fantastic genre from its beginnings through the 20th century.