Maria Kraxenberger

Prof. Dr. Maria Kraxenberger is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary English Studies at the Department of English, University of Mannheim. She specializes in sound-emotion dynamics in literary texts and digital-era reading/writing practices, employing mixed-methods research combining qualitative analysis with statistical approaches. Her career includes research at Stanford University, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, and the University of Basel, alongside a 2020–2025 tenure as a research associate at the University of Stuttgart's Institute of Literary Studies.

Education: She holds a doctorate from Freie Universität Berlin on 'Sound-Emotion Associations in Poetry', with earlier studies in Comparative Literature at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and the University of Seville.

Research focuses on how sound patterns in poetry evoke emotions, digital platforms' impact on literary consumption, and readers' engagement with contemporary genres. She has pioneered empirical studies on erotic novel readership demographics and digital social reading communities. Her work bridges literary theory with cognitive science and digital humanities.

• Key Themes: Digital-age literary practices, experimental poetry analysis, empirical aesthetics
• Methodologies: Mixed-methods, statistical analysis, experimental design

Her recent articles explore topics like online literature platforms' dynamics (2022), rhyme perception mechanisms (2021), and affective responses to poetic prosody (2018–2016). She has contributed to major journals in literary studies and psychology.

Awards: No specific honors listed in available materials.

Advising: No student advisees listed. Grants: No specific grants mentioned in current data.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams in digital humanities and empirical aesthetics research networks.