When the original edition Divine Horsemen went out of print, this Vantage paperback edition was released under the name of Divine Horsemen Voodoo Gods of Haiti. Same book, but collectors item for Deren enthusiasts.See review on this page for the new edition of the original work.

Divine Horsemen was the title used in England by Thames and Hudson. When printed in paperback form in the US, The Voodoo gods became the title.Rare collectors item, if you can get ahold of it.See review for Divine Horsemen elsewhere on this page ( the new released version)

This is my cousin, the book is an excellent review of our family history, Others interested in maya's work will find out that she was a very interesting person

In the 1970's a four volume project was designed to re-examine the life of filmmaker and ethnographer Maya Deren. Four authors worked within the structure of a feminist collective typical of the time with revolving editorship. According to Catrina Neiman, one of the authors, an anticipated outcome was to stimulate further academic study on Deren. Volume 1, Signatures concerns Deren's early and university life, involvement in socialist youth groups and early poetry and fiction. Chambers, part 2 ilustrates her development as a filmmaker through her first four films with documents on their production and reception. What is noteworthy of this project is the illumination of parts of Deren's life beyond the four year period between 1943 and 1946 which most people know about. The 40 year old Deren who was involved with ethnography and ethnomusicology as well as the young teen involved in political movements are areas new to us. The two remaining volumes are ready and have been so for years which publisher Anthology Film Archives has yet to release. ' Legend' embraces the transformative nature of Deren's work in different creative relationships and is the most comprehensive work to date on her life.

It is difficult to place the work of a multidiscipline artist within a holistic perspective. There have been several attempts to place Deren within this context: The Legend of Maya Deren is one, and this is the other-- the first doctoral dissertation to give Deren and her work a unity. Using the words of Deren, an 'anagram' is a set of concepts which are united and which cross-fertilize one another. The following is a description of this book:

Maya Deren's corpus of work, which has been given various designations within the American avant-garde filmmaking practice of the 1940's and 1950's, is analysed according to the historical conditions of conception and reception during her practice.

Influences on her theories in art and ethnography are noted through several historical discourses: the French Symbolist Poets, Henri Bergson, Kurt Koffka, T.S Eliot, Katherine Dunham, Alexander Hammid, Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Campbell and Gregory Bateson; the synthesis of these ideas within her films are noted.

Three major areas, the poetic, the political and the primitive are used as components of an anagrammatic complex to demonstrate the theory and practice of her work as an artist in flux between dominant representational practices in film and ethnography.

Deren's major theoretical essay, "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film" introduced the basic structure of her ideas ( nowhere previously analyzed)

An analysis of her six completed films and work in progress are approached through a 'genetic tracing' of shooting scripts, releases and historical contexualizations.Her Work with choreocinema and ritual are examined as an epistemological break in film form within the avant garde.

"The Poetic" contextualizes key influences behind her use of the poetic idiom in film;

"The Political" examines Deren's production, distribution, exhibition and articulation of film in periodicals and lecture-demonstrations;

"The Primitive" focuses on Deren's literal and visual contributions to an understanding of Haitian Voudoun including her participant-observation in a Port-au-Prince hounfor (temple). ]

This volume is available.

This is the original edition published in New York and England in 1953. Hard to find and has been re-released. See review above for the new edition

In the 1970's a four volume project was designed to re-examine the life of filmmaker and ethnographer Maya Deren. Four authors worked within the structure of a feminist collective typical of the time with revolving editorship. According to Catrina Neiman, one of the authors, an anticipated outcome was to stimulate further academic study on Deren. Volume 1, Signatures concerns Deren's early and university life, involvement in socialist youth groups and early poetry and fiction. Chambers, part 2 ilustrates her development as a filmmaker through her first four films with documents on their production and reception. What is noteworthy of this project is the illumination of parts of Deren's life beyond the four year period between 1943 and 1946 which most people know about. The 40 year old Deren who was involved with ethnography and ethnomusicology as well as the young teen involved in political movements are areas new to us. The two remaining volumes are ready and have been so for years which publisher Anthology Film Archives has yet to release. ' Legend' embraces the transformative nature of Deren's work in different creative relationships and is the most comprehensive work to date on her life.

In the 1970's a four volume project was designed to re-examine the life of filmmaker and ethnographer Maya Deren. Four authors worked within the structure of a feminist collective typical of the time with revolving editorship. According to Catrina Neiman, one of the authors, an anticipated outcome was to stimulate further academic study on Deren. Volume 1, Signatures concerns Deren's early and university life, involvement in socialist youth groups and early poetry and fiction. Chambers, part 2 ilustrates her development as a filmmaker through her first four films with documents on their production and reception. What is noteworthy of this project is the illumination of parts of Deren's life beyond the four year period between 1943 and 1946 which most people know about. The 40 year old Deren who was involved with ethnography and ethnomusicology as well as the young teen involved in political movements are areas new to us. The two remaining volumes are ready and have been so for years which publisher Anthology Film Archives has yet to release. ' Legend' embraces the transformative nature of Deren's work in different creative relationships and is the most comprehensive work to date on her life.

Let's suppose you don't know anything about Islam. Would you turn to a debate between two scholars of the Sharia' to get your basic knowledge ? Or maybe, if you didn't know anything about Judaism, would you turn to Maimonides' discussion of the impossibility of absolute finality ? The same question can be asked of Maya Deren's incredible, deep, detailed book on Haitian religion, a religion taken largely from West Africa. Although Deren, an artist and film-maker, writes passionately and intellectually about her subject, she assumes far too much knowledge on the part of the reader. I found the book incredibly dense, full of details which I could not possibly remember, yet giving me no quarter, explaining nothing to me in terms that I could come to grips with. I can be emotional in practice, but in reading a book on a rather new subject for me, I prefer some intellectual explanation, some connection to the web of knowledge all readers of books like this do share. Deren waxes philosophical, lyrical, and psychological in turn. It is hard to know how to absorb it all. She describes the symbolic and mythological significance of the many West African deities found in Haiti, trying also to explain how the New World required new meanings in some cases. Her argument that Africans absorbed some Indian influence seems rather frail. She also describes the role of the houngan, or priest of Vodun, the importance of drums and drumming, the fact of possession.

Look, let's be brief. If you already know a lot about West African religion or its New World variants, and if you want a detailed analysis in a non-standard anthropological form, then this could be a five star book for you. Her passion, her scholarship deserve five stars for sure. The best thing about the book is its insistence that Voudoun or Vodun is a rich, vital religion with ancient roots, so far from the caricature often imposed on "Voodoo" by Western popular culture. On the other hand, if you want to know more about Haitian society, if you are looking for an anthropological work that will give you some operating knowledge in Haiti or about Haiti, this volume is going to prove far too rich for your blood. Try some of the other works on Haiti first.

The other reviewers do a good job of discussing Deren's history of Haitian Voodoun, however, it should be noted that regardless of the merits of this as an historical text, the book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in her film practice. Perhaps this is obvious, but it is unmentioned by some others.

Maya Deren's "Divine Horsemen" is a poetically rendered exploration of the philosophy and practices of Haitian Voodoun. Written in the early '50's (with the support of Joseph Campbell), this book is not a "how to" practical guide. Rather it a metaphysical, religious, philosophical & anthropological study of Voodoun. As an artist, Deren brings a uniquely lyrical voice to her narrative and paints a multi-textured, infinitely complex portrait of a spiritual tradition with roots stretching back to the very dawn of humanity. In reading this book I was awed by an awareness of the sophisication and perception of the so-called "primitive" people of West Africa (from which Voodoun derives). They were only "primitive" in terms of the development of technology, certainly not in the development of the spirit. Reading this has created a profound shift in my view of the history of civilization as taught to me in school. This book is essential reading not only for anyone interested in Voodoun, but also for any student of comparative religion, mythology or spirituality.