Gerhard Lauer (born November 14, 1962)[1] is a German literary scholar.

He is currently Gutenberg Professor of Book Studies at the University of Mainz.

[2] He works on literary history, reading studies, and digital humanities.

In 2002 he succeeded Wilfried Barner, who had succeeded Albrecht Schöne in 1992, as chair of Modern German Literature at the University of Göttingen.

Professor Lauer is a member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities,[1] was distinguished Max Kade visiting professor at the Washington University in St. Louis,[4] senior research fellow at the Institut of Advances Studies/St Mary's College, Durham University,[5] is a cofounding editor of the Journal of Literary Theory, associate editor of the journal Scientific Study of Literature, and of the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch.