Grotesques, angels, beast-man, and the Medusa are among the "marvelous" cast of characters analyzed in this volume. Originally presented at the 7th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts held in 1986, these essays are responses by scholars to a range of creative works by Mark Strand, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Kafka, Tolkien, Henry James, Julio Cortazar, Sherwood Anderson, Ursula Le Guin, I.B.Singer, Joyce and others. Examining both mainstream and fantasy literature from many nations, the authors zero-in on the myriad shapes of the fantastic and study the world of SF and film. Five sections treat the fantastic from various perspectives and seven figures illustrate "the essays" theses. In part 1 five authors sleuth out elements of fantasy in poetry, short fiction and a neo-romantic fairy tale. An inquiry is made into fantasy in the post-modernist movement. The "inexplicable reality" or Part 2 refers to deaths that are anything but terminal and four essays chronicle fantastic occurrences whose scientific rationale is tenuous at best. The fifth article traces the elusiveness of fantasy in a number of authors and works.
Beast-man, angels, the medusa, and other creatures are the subject of six essays in part 3. In part 4 six essays consider the combination of fantasy with murder mystery, with taoism, with the symbolism of the tarot, with Freudian dreams and with other genres. In the final section essays address fantasy and science fiction in film, present a discussion between two critics of science fictions and view the history and development of the contemporary SF novel.