Cora Kroemer

My research background is in the humanities, especially modern French literature, art history (B.A. at University of Heidelberg) and cross-border communication and cooperation (trinational M.A. at Saarland University, University of Lorraine and University of Luxembourg). For the three following years, I am pursuing a PhD on contemporary reading practices and online reviews of fiction works at the University of Maine (Le Mans, France) and the Saarland University (Saarbrücken) under the direction of Prof Brigitte Ouvry-Vial and Prof Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink.

My recent research interest focuses on reading practices (the whys ? and hows ?) of fiction work in the digital age and especially on the sociality and interactivity of reading in the digital context. My research takes an interdisciplinary approach (book history, sociology, reception theory, information and media studies, technology) to aim at the intersection of object (paper books / digital books), content and recommendation / prescription. By doing so, I am looking for to learn about contemporary reading practices, reading strategies and digital forms of online prescription, recommendation and interaction between publishers, authors and readers and to see if the current digital reading revolution is either an evolution of or a rupture with historical reading practices. Furthermore my research is conducted with a special interest on cross-cultural differences, especially the french-german reception of the same books.

In constructing and testing an interdisciplinary, qualitative method to analyze online comments in different social networks and websites, I am expecting to make a small contribution to actual considerations and further research.

Moreover, as I am preparing my thesis under the direction of Prof Brigitte Ouvry-Vial, I am currently participating in her research action aiming at delivering an European Reading Experience Database (focus on the 18th -21st century) which will be a multilingual, participative, open access website to gather material of any form.