Mary Grayson Brook teaches and researches 19th and 20th century German literature. Her work examines the intersection of literature and reproduction, from the aesthetic and formal strategies used to represent kinship structures and lineages in narrative prose to the echoes of legal, scientific, and philosophical discourses that shape the horizon of thinkable family forms in literary works from the 19th century. She completed her PhD in late 2022 with a dissertation on motherhood as a challenge to realist representation, research that was recognized by the Fulbright Program and DAAD. Her current works in progress address sexuality, ability, and form around 1800; genre, metaphor, and the literal in representations of pregnancy; and the role of geometric form in sibling relationships in the works of 19th and 20th century Austrian authors.  

As an Assistant in Instruction and Post-Graduate Research Associate at Princeton, Brook taught German language and literature courses, including an introduction to German literature and a fairy tale course. Brook has also taught students on a study abroad program in Munich and mentored undergraduate research projects across several disciplines.