She may be willing to explain why Machiavelli is not evil, but Professor Kristin Phillips-Court is unlikely to share what she really thinks of the Mona Lisa.
To find that out, you would need to enroll in the popular course, “Literature in Translation: The Italian Renaissance: Authorship and World-making.”
The class, for which Phillips-Court of the Department of French and Italian won the Honored Instructor Award from University Housing, takes an interdisciplinary approach to teaching the many facets of the Italian Renaissance.
Although the class fulfills a literature requirement, the class has broad appeal with students in the humanities, sciences and social sciences. Phillips-Court includes painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry and philosophy into the course to organize thought-provoking lectures that encourage students think about some of the mysteries of the Italian Renaissance.
“Why does Mona Lisa smile like that? Why does Botticelli’s Venus look like a sculpture?” she said, giving examples of questions curious students ask. “And then there’s Machiavelli.”
Even though it is a large lecture class, she expects a high level of participation and discussion from her students to answer these questions collectively.
Phillips-Court also structures her lectures in a way that will be interesting for students and will also help them retain what they learn.
“I am dedicated to counteracting the binge-and-purge or 'cramming' approach to testing and learning. My lectures build and complicate on earlier lectures, so that the attentive student can always see the big picture while apprehending the subtleties along the way,” she said.
Furthermore, she said literature is the medium for revealing those subtleties. “We examine the great literary texts that express and exemplify Renaissance social and political thought and artistic practices."
Students have taken notice of her holistic approach to teaching as well as the interactive nature of the course. In Fall 2011, Phillips-Court won the Honored Instructor Award, which recognizes outstanding instructors.
Samantha Timm, a freshman majoring in English and Art History enrolled in the course during her first semester as a way to explore her major options. She liked the way her instructor worked with students to draw their own conclusions.
“We were given freedom of interpretation on the variety of works studied, but also guided in our learning of the historical significance of the Renaissance. I was also fascinated by the merging of art history, literature, and philosophy in terms of subject matter,” Timm said.
The class has broad appeal, since anyone is allowed to enroll in the course regardless of class standing. As a senior majoring in Zoology, David Ehrlich said he took the course to fulfill a requirement, and also because it came highly recommended. In particular, he commented on the content and style of the course.
“The class blends both the historical and artistic elements of the renaissance movement,” he said. “This approach also allowed us to contextualize the renaissance as a whole. For example, we learned that the breakdown of feudalism, the rise of social mobility, and the rebirth of Hellenism were major factors that led to the birth of the renaissance.”
To read an abridged Q&A transcript Prof. Kristin Phillips-Court, click here.
Phillips-Court is also the author of an award-winning book, The Perfect Genre. Drama and Painting in Renaissance Italy that won the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies in 2009
Story by Holly Hartung, College of Letters & Science