{"id":4002,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4002"},"modified":"2023-03-22T00:46:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T07:46:28","slug":"review-of-living-at-the-movies-by-michael-stephens-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-living-at-the-movies-by-michael-stephens-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Living at the Movies by Michael Stephens – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\nHome<\/a> > Research<\/a> > Book Reviews<\/a> > Review of Living at the Movies<\/i> by Michael Stephens<\/span><\/p>\n

Living at the Movies <\/i><\/h2>\n

Review by Michael Stephens
\nGuardian <\/i>, circa 1973
\n<\/span>
\n[Contributed by Jim Carroll]<\/span><\/p>\n

Living at the Movies<\/i>
\nBy Jim Carroll
\nGrossman \/ $4.50 paper<\/i><\/p>\n

Living at the Movies<\/i> is a strong mysterious potion of refracted lyrical language
\nshattered into elaborate patterns of truth and beauty. You cannot believe the beautiful
\ntextures herein — you can believe this upon reading, for instance:<\/p>\n

\n the fancied tilt of stars, sordid doves
\nburning in the hollow brick oven,
\noceans which generalize tears. it is
\nknown to us<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The truth is the consistency of the language, and its unnameable ability to create
\nexperience, not through language. but language as the experience itself. There are poems
\nin this book — like “The Distances” — that come down to us from a timeless
\nplace.<\/p>\n

Jim Carroll knows counterpoint, and his poems, back to back, and even within each
\nother, line by line, are pushing and pulling, making for dramatic tensions. He mixes the
\nserious with the frivolous, the mysterious with the known, making the high and lofty work
\non levels with Joey Heatherton and Orange Julius — read “Love Rockets” which is
\npure pop presody. And then earlier, he’ll cast a line straight from a French classical era
\nof high dope and despair, a Baudelaire or Mallarme-like line: “The shower of black
\ninfants across the infected landscape..,” (“August”) Then too he likes to
\nuse the pastoral with the urban, and he is forever watching, watching, “like watching
\nwind push Seaflowers”; “we are here on 53rd and 6th watching steel\/turn to
\nivy”. Yeats on Saint Mark’s Place? Of course, even that; any damn source that fits —
\nbirds and wild flowers and concrete!<\/p>\n

\n and the wind is pushing like pine
\ncones against the angel’s dying
\nsperm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like to think that is how John Donne might say it, if he were around today. Jim
\nCarroll may be our first genuine 20th Century metaphysical poet.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of Living at the Movies by Michael Stephens Living at the Movies Review by Michael Stephens Guardian , circa 1973 [Contributed by Jim Carroll] Living at the Movies By Jim Carroll Grossman \/ $4.50 paper Living at the Movies is a strong mysterious potion of refracted lyrical … Continue reading Review of Living at the Movies by Michael Stephens – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3988,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[41],"class_list":["post-4002","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-12y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3988,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4002,"position":0},"title":"Book Reviews","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here you will find a few of the many reviews of Jim Carroll's books. Eventually I will add more, but for now you can check out the Bibliographies page for many others I have not yet added to the website. Reviews of The Petting Zoo (2010) View reader comments on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4144,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/books-of-poetry-by-jim-carroll\/living-at-the-movies-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4002,"position":1},"title":"Living at the Movies","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Get this book on Amazon Living at the MoviesSecond EditionPublished: 1982By: Jim CarrollPublisher: PenguinLength: 100 pagesFormat: PaperbackCover design: Neil StuartCover photograph: Michael halsband Living at the Movies\u00a0is Jim Carroll's first major collection of poetry. The back cover of the Penguin edition states: \"In these poems, all written before the age\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/living-at-the-movies-2ed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/living-at-the-movies-2ed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/living-at-the-movies-2ed.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/living-at-the-movies-2ed.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4005,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-living-at-the-movies-by-gerard-malanga-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":4002,"position":2},"title":"Review of Living at the Movies by Gerard Malanga – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of Living at the Movies by Gerard Malanga Traveling & Living Review of Living at the Movies By Gerard Malanga Poetry (1974), pp. 162-65 Note: Malanga reviews both Carroll's Living at the Movies and Daniel Halpern's Traveling on Credit. I am including\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4598,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-fear-of-dreaming-by-benjamin-segedin-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":4002,"position":3},"title":"Review of Fear of Dreaming by Benjamin Segedin – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of Fear of Dreaming by Benjamin Segedin Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems of Jim Carroll Review by Benjamin Segedin Booklist 90.4 (15 Oct. 1993): 412 Carroll, Jim. Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems of Jim Carroll. Nov. 1993. 292p. Penguin, paper,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8815,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/books-of-poetry-by-jim-carroll\/living-at-the-movies-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":4002,"position":4},"title":"Living at the Movies (First Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Get this book on Amazon Living at the MoviesFirst EditionPublished: 1973By: Jim CarrollPublisher: GrossmanLength: 100 pagesFormat: Hardcover and paperbackCover design: Larry Rivers The most remarkable thing about the first edition of Living at the Movies is the cover art by well-known painter\u00a0Larry Rivers, a close friend of Carroll's. You will\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/movies1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4046,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/a-jim-carroll-chronology\/","url_meta":{"origin":4002,"position":5},"title":"A Jim Carroll Chronology","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Appendix A Jim Carroll Chronology Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries By Cassie Carter Title Page \u00a0 Table of Contents \u00a0 Abstract \u00a0 Chapter One \u00a0 Chapter Two \u00a0 Chapter Three \u00a0 Chapter Four \u00a0 Appendix \u00a0 Notes \u00a0 Works Cited This chronology was compiled in 1990. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4002"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5992,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4002\/revisions\/5992"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}