power duos:
josh shenk on the genius of creative alliances
Steve Silberman
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (left) and musician Patti Smith (right).
What is the chemistry of collaboration? What enables creative pairs like Pierre and Marie Curie, James Watson and Francis Crick, or John Lennon and Paul McCartney to soar above their individual limitations and become mutual muses, inspiring one another to the highest achievements?
These are the questions that Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of the award-winning biography Lincoln’s Melancholy, is exploring in a new Slate series called Two is the Magic Number. Drawing on studies of social networks, neuroscience, psychology, health, “microanalyses” of recorded interactions, and other areas of research, Shenk looks at the dynamics behind powerhouse duos in science and art, while addressing the difficulties of talking about creative intimacy and cooperation in a culture that fetishizes the lone genius.
Shenk’s writing for The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Nation, Mother Jones, and other publications is humane, thoughtful, and provocative. His 2009 cover story for Atlantic Monthly on Harvard’s 68-year longitudinal study of aging was a profound meditation on what contributes to a happy life, and his Harper’s piece on the hypocrisy of America’s war on (some) drugs was a landmark of public candor. Shenk will use his presence on Slate and a newly-launched Facebook group to solicit input from the network about creative pairs for a book based on Two is the Magic Number.
The 39-year-old Brooklyn-based author (his brother is David Shenk, author of The Genius in Us All) is also a creative-writing teacher and a strategist for non-profits in higher education, the arts, and mental health. I spoke with him about the role of collaboration in science, the creative dynamic at the core of the Beatles, and the ways that social networks are transforming our notions of identity.
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