This study will compare and contrast the "traditional" and the "non-traditional" society as presented in Maya Deren's book The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. The study will focus on religion, community, and other significant areas of difference. The basis of the study will be the argument that, in Deren's view, the non-traditional society is preferable to the traditional society because of what she sees as its greater authenticity and its ability to connect the individual more intimately with other individuals, with the social structure, and with God.
We do not have to wait for the book proper to be apprised of the author's biases. In his "Editor's Foreword," the arrogant Joseph Campbell denounces traditional society, which he sees as a child of Christianity, and praises non-traditional society:
To some it will be incredible that an illiterate people should preserve in their traditions an arcanum lost to popular Christianity (which is today largely dogmatic rather than initiatory, moral rather than metaphysical), but no one acquainted with the true character of any so-called primitive religion will be surprised (xi).
Campbell, as representative of the author, charges Christianity with "driv[ing] the entire modern world . . . into a frenzy of absolutely despiritualized materialism," and praises Haitian Voudoun for "invest[ing] the most ravaged victims of the Christian debauch with the living radiance of the timeless symbols, of which the Christian symbols are but a local Near Eastern variant" (xii).
If Deren were as driven by a blatant hatred of Christianity as is Campbell, her book would not be the valuable work it is. Thankfully, Deren does not find it necessary to hate the traditional in order to appreciate and experience the non-traditional: "This book is dedicated to all those who serve, each in his own fashion" (14).
Deren differentiates between the traditional society of Haiti which focuses on th...