tribal, combative shaman of many cultures and
traditions.
XXIV
William Everson entered the beat movement
through his association with the San Francisco
Renaissance, under the mentorship of Rexroth he
published his seminal work "The residual years”.
While Robert Lowell is often acknowledged as
being the first poet since Crane to perfect the
confessional modus (e.g. “Life Studies” 1959)
Everson had been working with this mode since
around the time of his 3-year imprisonment stint
in Oregon for absconding from military service
circa 1939 (Reisman, 2012). He had spent the
greater part of his life trying to find "the living
root" of his character and identity as an American.
This process of shamanic excavation or "digging"
as Leroi Jones called it, is an important part of the
shaman's relation to his subconscious and the
archetypes that exist therein (Rampersad, 2006).
Everson was unique in the sense that he was a
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