Updated Abstracts

Article: Stan Brakhage and the Long Beach of Maya Deren’s Poetics of film
Pruitt, John. "Stan Brakhage and the Long Beach of Maya Deren’s Poetics of Film." Chicago Review 47/48.4/1 (2001): 116-20. Print.
Abstract:
Maya Deren is argued to be the direct predecessor of Stan Brakhage, one of the most influential avant-garde filmmakers of the 20th century. However, there are also notable differences described. These differences are highlighted through the theoretical writings of Maya Deren when contrasted with Brakhage’s films. Through analyzing Maya Deren’s writings and poems on film, reality, and photography, we are better able to understand the themes, and concepts presented in Brakhage’s films.

Article: Performance and Persona in the U.S. Avant-Garde: The Case of Maya Deren
Pramaggiore, Maria. “Performance and Persona in the U.S. Avant-Garde: The Case of Maya Deren”. Cinema Journal 36/2 (1997): 17-40. Print.
Abstract:
The symbol of a Hollywood movie star is usually not related to avant-garde film-making, but the theory of persona production is not regulated just to Hollywood, and is exemplified in the persona that avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren created for herself. The theory of persona production deals in avant-garde filmmaking deals with how closely the filmmaker’s life is related to her films. Within the three films of hers in which she appears, Maya Deren created a persona that mirrored her off camera life. Her persona, however, is full of contradictions from that of the stereotype of a bohemian artist, and one that is highly individualized as the mother of avant-garde film.

Article: Maya Deren’s Fatal Attraction: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Meshes of the Afternoon with a Psycho-Biographical Afterword
Fabe, Marilyn. “Maya Deren’s Fatal Attraction: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Meshes of the Afternoon with a Psycho-Biographical Afterword.” Women’s Studies 25/1 (1996): 137-141. Print.

Abstract:
In this paper, Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” is broken down into a reading of the film as an expression of a woman’s fatal desire for her lover. The film is also looked at from a feminist perspective. And lastly, to better understand the film, the author also presents evidence that “Meshes” grew out of the circumstances of Deren’s life and psychological state at the time the film was made particularly that of her father’s death, and the need to distance herself from her mother.