Professional and Biographical Information

Degrees

Ph.D., Princeton University (2019) 
M.A., Princeton University (2013)
B.A., Middlebury College (2010)

Research & Teaching Interests

I offer introductory courses in German languages, literature, and culture, as well as upper-level seminars on topics spanning the eleventh through nineteenth centuries. Upcoming courses include the history of fables and German intellectual and cultural history from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment. In my research and teaching, I bring ideas from the fields of Medieval Studies, Media Studies, Gender Studies, Book History, and German literary scholarship into dialogue. My goal is to equip students with a “theory toolbox” to take on a wide range of literature, art, and cultural productions, whatever their interests and passions.

My current project, Old Books, New Times: Medieval Manuscripts and German Literature, 1743-1851, explains the “rediscovery” of medieval literature by German writers in this century as an effect of specific media practices. Old Books, New Times follows the lives of medieval manuscripts and other old and unusual book objects into modernity, across different epochs, institutions, and writers in German. What emerges is a surprising story of old books in new times, always at the forefront of technological change.

Another area of interest for me is the intersection of old and new media more generally. From the printing press to lithography, to television, gaming, and the digital world, the Middle Ages keep coming back in new and surprising forms. I offer a seminar on Chivalry that examines how fictional narratives of the past can be used to critique and received historical concepts today, from MMORPGs and histo-tainment to contemporary political discourse.

Awards and Honors

2019 Johnson-Müller Award, Society for Medieval German Studies

2014 Princeton-Weimar Summer School for Media Studies, Princeton University/IKKM Weimar

2013-14 Donald & Mary Hyde Fellowship, Princeton University

2011-19 Mathey College Fellow, Princeton University

2010 Phi Beta Kappa Prize, Middlebury College

2010 Christian A. Johnson Prize for Excellence in History of Art, Middlebury College

Recent Papers

Mit kunkeln und mit schaeren: Tools for Reading Textiles in Medieval German Texts,” 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo

“Lessing, Laokoon, and the ‘Mooncalf’ Manuscript,” 2018 MLA Annual Convention

verschwigen und getrewe: Notes on Silence, Vulnerability, and Medieval German Studies,” 2017 GSA Annual Conference

Scholarly and Professional Associations

American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies

German Studies Association

Modern Languages Association

Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship