Maya Deren

October 13, 2003 5:18 PM

Mother of the avant-garde: Maya Deren was a passionate 'visual poet,' student of voudoun, and a revolutionary in experimental film who was fascinated by modern dance and Shaolin martial arts... prodigious work for a Ukrainian immigrant in 1940's America.
posted by moonbird (6 comments total)

Divine Horsemen is an awesome book, probably still the best one on the subject.
posted by Foosnark at 5:41 PM on October 13, 2003

cool.
posted by juv3nal at 12:19 AM on October 14, 2003

I've tried several times to get through Divine Horsemen, but there's just something about Deren's style that leaves me cold.

I preferred Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston, Mama Lola by Karen McCarthy Brown, and American Vodou by Rod Davis.
posted by Katemonkey at 2:28 AM on October 14, 2003

Katemonkey: Me too. In theory I think Deren's great, but in practice I find it hard to sit through her movies. And it's not that I don't get avant-garde cinema; Stan Brakhage is one of my favorites. I guess everybody can't appreciate everything.
posted by languagehat at 7:02 AM on October 14, 2003

katemonkey: do you mean the book or movie divine horsemen?

i LOVE maya deren's work. it looks amazing and i love the way she tells her stories, so abstract that they allow you in but not entirely impenetrable. her work has been a big influence on my own.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:48 AM on October 14, 2003

The book -- I haven't had a chance to see the movie, but I've tried to read that book around three times...
posted by Katemonkey at 1:30 AM on October 15, 2003