THE LEARNING CURVE

Literature and Arts B-10: "Art and Visual Culture: Introduction to the Historical Study of Art and Architecture," is a popular Core course that attracts about 250 students each year. Like many survey courses, its syllabus is arranged thematically, not chronologically.

While many students say the topical organization is interesting, others complain that they lose sight of the big picture when they study works of art in non-sequential order.

The issue is often debated because it affects the way most undergraduates, particularly those who concentrate in the humanities, learn.

Art is not Darwinian

Nicknamed "Intro to Intro" by students, Literature and ArtsB-10 is required of all art history concentrators and is available to all students through the Core.

Bardman Professor of Fine Arts Irene J. Winter and Professor of History of Art and Architecture Joseph L. Koerner, who teach the course emphasize the unwieldiness of a chronologically organized course.

"A single-term, chronological survey becomes altogether unmanageable," Koerner writes in an e-mail message. "One would end up doing nothing but establishing ten or twelve chronologies and have little time to talk about individual works or issues."

Some instructors say a chronological format would perpetuate certain ways of thinking about art and make them seem like the only ways.

"A chronological format reinforces elevated concepts and an outdated way of looking at art as developing toward idealistic perfection," says Mark DeLancy, a teaching fellow for the course. "Art is not a Darwinian concept."

According to DeLancy, non-Western works may be neglected in a chronological format.

In the course's chronologically-arranged text used in B-10, Story of Art, "anything non-Western is given a little chapter," DeLancy says.

The textbook is only used in the introductory two weeks of the course, so students can begin the semester with a chronological view of art through the ages.

The rest of the course relies on a sourcebook and works of art in the Fogg, Sackler and Peabody Museums.

"Materials here are excellent for doing thematic [work]," DeLancy says.

While some students say the thematic approach is valuable, others find it distracting.

"[The course] teaches you to be able to go into a museum and look at a painting in a new way, to recognize patterns throughout art and figure things out about the painting from within the painting, rather than looking to a chronology for context," says Katherine C. Heller '02.

Elizabeth A. Haynes '98 echoed Heller's sentiments.

"By studying art from a thematic perspective, art reinvents itself as a byproduct of the approach to seeing," she says.

But others find the class less clear than if it were arranged chronologically.

A chronological format, says Emily H. Stauffer '98-'99, would give students "a sense that they were learning things in an organized way and we would have been able to process the information more easily."

Although the instructors do not see chronology in Literature and Arts B-10 as the best way to achieve the goals of the class, they acknowledge that it is an important part in the study of art.

"Chronology is an extremely effective way of organizing the study of art;" Koerner writes. "How could it be otherwise, when time is real and irreversible!"

"Chronology remains the organizing mode of the introductory courses that are offered in more manageable historical fields," he added.

All of the introductory History of Art and Architecture courses are examples, he says. These courses explore different areas of art history in chronological context.

Always 'Secretly Thematic'

English professors must also decide if organizing a class chronologically or thematically is more useful.

"A chronological approach...is always in some sense secretly thematic, since one cannot possibly read everything," says Levin Professor of Literature Stephen J. Greenblatt, who is teaching English 124c: "Shakespearean Conjuring," this semester.

It covers the theatrical writings of Shakespeare and scenes of conjuring, exorcism and magic. Texts range from "The Witch of Edmonton" and "Twelfth Night" to "Macbeth" and "The Tempest."

"Each approach can address a wide range of texts, and, for that matter, can be defined narrowly," Greenblatt added.

Many of the classes offered within the English department, such as English 90s: "Virginia Woolf," are about a specific author, while others, such as English 179k: "American Autobiography," deal with specific areas.

"When you compress something down to the works of one playwright, you need a much broader chronological context, but in the specific era it is very thematic," says James T.L. Grimmelmann '99, a computer science concentrator who is taking the class as an elective.

"Shakespearean Conjuring" begins with contextual material and then moves on to the plays, but not necessarily in chronological order.

The setup is "much better than strict chronology in terms of date of composition," Grimmelmann says.

According to Greenblatt, the material in the class is both thematic and chronological, "but not, or at least not only because of Shakespeare's development. Over time the culture as a whole began to rethink its beliefs in the supernatural."

As in Literature and Arts B-10, some students find the approach problematic.

"I feel that the thematic approach is very interesting," says Sarah K. Matteson '99, "[but] a lot of people miss the more comprehensive study of Shakespeare."

The English and American Literature and Language Department requires all of its concentrators to complete English 10a and English 10b: "Major British Writers." The class is chronological and covers British literature from the Middle Ages through the present.

"In general, I think the English department is struggling with the questions of how to accurately prepare all concentrators in uniform fashion," Matteson says. "The result has been to make 10a/b, a Shakespeare class and two pre-1800 classes requirements. At the same time, this is not History and Literature."

The ideal course, according to one instructor, would be arranged thematically within a chronological context.

"I think you have to have both to get the best literature education," says Jesse E. Matz, assistant professor of English and American Literature and Language. Matz is teaching several classes this semester, including English 90tv: "Time and the Novel," and English 171m: "Modern American Fiction."

"Thematic courses are more advanced," he says. "Students have the general and can move into the specific."