Creative Collaboration [Hardcover]

Vera John-Steiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2000

Rodin's sculpture "The Thinker" dominates our collective imagination as the purest representation of human inquiry--the lone, stoic thinker. But while the Western belief in individualism romanticizes this perception of the solitary creative process, the reality is that scientific and artistic forms emerge from the joint thinking, passionate conversations, emotional connections and shared struggles common in meaningful relationships. In Creative Collaboration, Vera John-Steiner offers rare and fascinating glimpses into the dynamic alliances from which some of our most important scholarly ideas, scientific theories and art forms are born. Within these pages we witness the creative process unfolding in the intimate relationships of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Henry Miller and Anais Nin, Marie and Pierre Curie, Martha Graham and Erick Hawkins, and Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz; the productive partnerships of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Albert Einstein and Marcel Grossmann, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, and Freeman Dyson and Richard Feynman; the familial collaborations of Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus, and Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson and Mary Catherine Bateson; and the larger ensembles of The Guarneri String Quartet, Lee Strasburg, Harold Clurman and The Group Theater, and such feminist groups as The Stone Center and the authors of Women's Ways of Knowing. Many of these collaborators complemented each other, meshing different backgrounds and forms into fresh styles, while others completely transformed their fields. Here is a unique cultural and historical perspective on the creative process. Indeed, by delving into these complex collaborations, John-Steiner illustrates that the mind--rather than thriving on solitude--is clearly dependent upon the reflection, renewal and trust inherent in sustained human relationships. Here is a unique cultural and historical perspective on the creative process, and a compelling depiction of the associations that nurtured our most talented artists and thinkers. By delving into these complex, intimate collaborations, John-Steiner illustrates that the mind--rather than thriving on solitude--is clearly dependent upon the dialogue, renewal, and trust inherent in sustained human relationships.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this carefully researched psychological study of creative collaboration, John-Steiner (Notebooks of the Mind) challenges the concept of the primacy of the individual championed by developmental theorists such as Piaget, and urges readers to consider cooperative effort as a new paradigm for human creative activity. In seven lucid chapters, this linguistics and education professor delineates three broad categories: developing "theoretical... models for collaboration," identifying "collaborative dynamics" in creative ventures and documenting "experienced thinkers" engaged "in joint efforts." John-Steiner considers an array of primary sources and historical examples, such as the creative partnerships between Henry Miller and Anais Nin and painters Picasso and Braque, as well as collaborations between scientists and social scientists. She includes numerous interviews with well-known artists and scientists like Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri String Quartet and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Though she addresses some very abstract notionsDfrom the basis of gender identity to essential differences between modes of expressionDJohn-Steiner's writing remains clear and delightfully plain. One intriguing area of her research that she might have developed further is the role sexuality and fantasy can play in creative collaboration. In any case, this book will appeal strongly to artists, musicians and intellectual collaborators who are serious students of the creative process.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"As studies of creative collaborations go, Vera John-Steiner's is a model of scholarship and deep understanding of the human psyche.Her book is a must for creativity studies." American Scientist

"Draws on a wide range of examples from the arts and sciences and includes a valuable bibliography that covers both popular and scholarly works on many aspects of partnership and common-cause endeavors."--"The Futurist

"A reader cannot but fail to be impressed by the scope of John-Steiner's literary palette as she describes with alacrity famous collaborators in fields as diverse as science, music, and art....Offers vivid alternative narratives that respond to her criticism that most of the literature on collaboration focuses on cognition while overlooking the power of relational dynamics."--Education Review

"John-Steiner challenges the concept of the primacy of the individual championed by developmental theorists such as Piaget, and urges readers to consider cooperative effort as a new paradigm for human creative activity....[The] writing [is] clear and delightfully plain.... [Creative Collaboration] will appeal strongly to artists, musicians and intellectual collaborators who are serious students of the creative process."--Publishers Weekly

"One of the first studies available of adult collaboration and group interaction from the perspective of cognitive developmental psychology....John-Steiner [disputes] the traditional psychological view that creativity is an individual accomplishment, demonstrat[ing] the importance of shared vision to individual achievement....[She] has laid the groundwork for further exploration of creative collaboration. Essential."--Library Journal.

"Vera John-Steiner contributes to this intellectual effort in Creative Collaboration . Her research attempts to deepen our understanding of creative achievement by exploring the relational contexts of individual and joint work. . . . This book lays the groundwork for the continuing exploration of the nature and nurturing of collaboration. John-Steiner has made a start describing the variety of ways that collaborators who are also experienced thinkers jointly work. She has begun to answer the question of what motivates extended collaboration and has given us some new language that captures the coupling of the affective and cognitive dimensions that are at the heart of these creative 'ensembles.'" -- Human Development

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195067940
• ISBN-13: 978-0195067941
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cartload of jargon with some hidden gems, December 9, 2009

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E. M. W. Lameijer "reading chemist" (Leiden, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creative Collaboration (Paperback)

When I started reading this book, I gasped. As a professional scientist, I've had to chew on my fair share of indigestible scientific prose, but Ms John-Steiner's writing took the cake. See, for example, phrases like "In addition, I draw on the perspective of 'constructed knowing', which emphasizes situated, contextual and integrated modes of thinking over the more traditional and prevalent separate modes of knowing."
Fortunately, I'd do the author injustice by labeling her a bad writer, as the parts where she describes actual collaborations and collaborators are lucid, interesting, and quite readable. It's mainly in the more theoretical sections in between where the reader has to suffer through facts being forcefully shoved into the sacred Vygotzyan worldview, and the abstractness and complexity of the prose in those sections could have the purpose of making it easier for the author to gloss over errors in Vygotsky's model.
This book would have been twelve times better if the author had striven to keep the prose lucid and concrete, and had built a model from the facts instead of trying to force ill-fitting facts into the theoretical model she favours. Still, to be fair, I'd have to give this book four stars. Simply because, reading through it, almost despite the author's efforts, you get a good sense of the essence of good collaboration: shared vision, complementary skills, and slowly acquired trust in the other and willingness to be vulnerable/accept criticism. The ultimate book on collaboration will probably be written by a writer with a greater skill in using language lucidly and without the theoretical fixedness of John-Steiner, in the meantime you can learn a lot from this book about collaboration. Reading it is worth it, in my opinion, despite the bumpy ride...