Miller's determination to explore the psyche is an example of one of literature's most basic and enduring archetypes. His interest in the work of Carl Jung undoubtedly influenced him in his soul-analysis and his mental voyage is patterned after the dark-nightof-the-soul ordeal. On the other hand, his erotic honesty has no parallel in American literature, although works by Remy de Gourmont, Jacques Casanova, and others are appropriate precedents.

His quest for self-discovery, however, is clearly akin to Thoreau's journals, and his concentration on the self recalls Whitman's poetry, especially the very aptly titled "Song of Myself." Miller is also, like Whitman, eternally about to set foot on the open road, and in this, he is a precursor of Jack Kerouac and other Beat writers whose work contains many elements of erotic exploration, social commentary, personal introspection and wild language — the primary components of Miller's own...