Daniel Illger is Professor of Popular Culture Studies at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) on the border between Poland and Germany. He holds an MA in Film Studies and Comparative Literary Studies, did his PhD on the aesthetic construction of the city in Italian post-war cinema and habilitated with a study on world-building in video games. Illger was a research associate at the Collaborative Research Centre 'Aesthetic Experience and the Dissolution of Artistic Limits' and the Cluster of Excellence 'Languages of Emotions' as well as a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Film Studies 'Cinepoetics', all at the Free University of Berlin. He lived in Zurich as a freelance writer for a while. During that time, he published three fantasy novels with Klett-Cotta: the Skargat trilogy. His research interests focus on popular culture in various times, cultural contexts and media, particularly on the fantastic in the arts. His most recent publications are 'Kosmische Angst' ('Cosmic Fear'), with Matthes & Seitz, and 'Grüne Sonnen. Poetik und Politik der Fantasy am Medium Videospiel' ('Green Suns. The Politics and Poetics of Fantasy in Video Games') with De Gruyter.
Academic expertise
Popular culture, film and media studies, philosophy of art
Topic for press interviews
Moral emotions in popular media (blockbuster, tv shows, video games), popular genres (crime, horror, fantasy) and politics, the politics of aesthetics