Hans Rudolf Velten is a professor of Medieval German literature and language at Universität Siegen. He is currently principal investigator in the research program (SFB) »Transformationen des Populären« and has widely published in the fields of vernacular medieval literature and cultural theory. His research interests are in literature and culture of the late middle ages and early modern period, historical anthropology, theater history of the 15th and 16th centuries, and medievalism.
Joseph Imorde was a professor of art history at Universität Siegen until 2021 and is a principal investigator in the research program (SFB) »Transformationen des Populären«. Since 2022 he has been a professor of art history and vice president at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee in Berlin. His research centers on the historiography of art history, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography.

Frontmatter 1
Contents 5
Preface 7
Introduction: Fantasy between Text and Image 9
Aesthetics without Pictures? 23
The Visual Realization of Fantastic Worlds in Book Cover Design 37
Beautiful and Sublime - and Never Mind the Pointed Ears 51
Visualizing the Never-Seen 81
The Fantasy Novel as Commodity 121
Medievalist Aesthetics and Marketing Strategies 143
William Morris's Medievalist Visual Aesthetics and its Persistence in Fantasy 175
Unicorns in Contemporary Popular Culture 205
Fantasy Medievalism 217
Reception of Medieval Literature in Science Fiction Series 239
Biobibliographical Information 261