Creative Collaboration

By Vera John-Steiner

"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

"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

"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
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