Christine Cosentino-Dougherty began her studies at the Humboldt Universität (Berlin) and the Ruprecht-Karl-Universität Heidelberg; she received her Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1971. She is co-founder and co-editor of the online journal glossen, a journal on contemporary German literature, film and art.

Professor Cosentino-Dougherty is the author or editor of several books and numerous articles in US- and European journals primarily on the literature, cultural policies and history of the GDR, the Federal Republic, the united Germany, Expressionism, and lyric poetry, including the works of Volker Braun, Sarah Kirsch, Christa Wolf, Klaus Schlesinger, Christoph Hein, Ingo Schulze, Martin Walser, Heinrich Böll, and others.

She teaches language and literature courses on all levels, specializing in Modern German Literature, Expressionism, GDR-Literature, Literature of the united Germany, and lyric poetry.

Authored Books

  • Tierbilder in der Lyrik des Expressionismus (1972)
  • Zur Lyrik Volker Brauns (1984)
  • “Ein Spiegel mit mir darin”: Sarah Kirschs Lyrik (1991)

Co-Edited Books

  • DDR-Lyrik im Kontext (1988)
  • “im widerstand/im mißverstand?”: Zur Literatur des Prenzlauer Bergs (1996)
  • Crosscurrents – German Literature(s) and the Search for Identity: Selected papers from the Second Carlisle Symposium (2002)
  • An der Jahrtausendwende: Schlaglichter auf die deutsche Literatur (2002)