An interdisciplinary rendezvous between mathematics and literature: Reflections on beauty as a perspective in comparative disciplinary didactics and a thematic approach to interdisciplinary work in upper secondary school

In this paper we propose a thematic focus on aesthetics in the context of an interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematics and literature (Language Arts) as
a way to further students’ reflections on and deeper understanding of what characterizes the two subjects. Furthermore, we argue that approaching aesthetics
through the perspective of literacy can potentially strengthen students’ understanding of ways of thinking particular to specific (academic) disciplines; ways of
thinking that are otherwise often hidden when teaching focuses on more pragmatic aspects. G. H. Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology from 1940 serves as
the recurring illustrative example in our discussions of the pedagogical potentials
of an interdisciplinary rendezvous between mathematics and literature.