{"id":4007,"date":"2022-01-10T22:18:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4007"},"modified":"2025-03-05T19:32:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:32:31","slug":"visions-from-a-razors-edge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/visions-from-a-razors-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Visions from a Razor’s Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Visions from a Razor’s Edge<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Karl Irving<\/a>
UC Santa Barbara\u00a0Daily Nexus<\/em>
Arts & Entertainment, 22 May 1986, p. 1A, 4A<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Fuck it anyway, no dope, no nookie, no queers following me today, I guess you start writing lame diaries like this.”<\/p>\u2014 Age 14, The Basketball Diaries<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Reading Jim Carroll can be a dramatic experience. A street-smart kid who experimented with drugs in a private school in the lower-east side of New York City, he wrote The Basketball Diaries<\/em>. It is unsettling as much as it is colorful and fascinating, with a bitter taste of the underground scene. It casts you beyond the glitter to bare the true city, permeated with the distinct smell of Warhol present in such cinematic works as “Midnight Cowboy”. You are compelled to take a descent with Carroll, but not a surrealistic ride down a rabbit\u2019s hole. It is rather the sickness of heroin addiction at the age of fifteen. It is a poet\u2019s attempt at shocking realism reminiscent of William Burrough\u2019s Junky<\/em> rather than merely the hedonistic adventurism that brought fame to Jack Kerouac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is knee-deep in drugs and sex and hustling gays, and hangs onto a tough-athlete image, but manages to nevertheless absorb knowledge. There is a subtle stylism present in Diaries, whose growth you can follow to the very last page as Carroll develops. Kerouac once wrote, “At 13 years of age, Jim Carroll writes better prose than 89 percent of the novelists working today.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a sharply endowed mind he turned to writing poetry. Like Allen Ginsberg, he sees drugs as a means to a literary end. The lyric seductiveness contained in his first major publication, Living at the Movies, reportedly caused Carroll (at a mere 22 years) to be the youngest ever nominee for the Pulitzer Prize:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I sleep on a tar roof
scream my songs
into lazy floods of stars…
a white powder paddles through blood and heart
and
the sounds return
pure and easy…
this city is on my side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Fragment: Little N.Y. Ode<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Breaking his heroin addiction cold for one last time by moving to California in 1974, he took up the idea of using rock music as a medium to expand. “Any poet,” he says, “out of respect for his audience should become a rock and roll star.” To this end, he follows in the footsteps of ex-girlfriend Patti Smith and the influential Lou Reed, a good friend. His first album, Catholic Boy <\/em>(1980), won him quick attention, not only as a singer, but also as an artist as a whole. (Living at the Movies <\/em>was re-released and sold in one week what it had sold in the first two years of its original release.) One song, “People who Died”, with its rush of guitars and the same rough-edged content of his diaries, soon became a cult classic, especially among the college crowd:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Teddy sniffing glue, he was twelve years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-Nine.
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On twenty-six reds and a bottle of wine.
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old.
He looked like 65 when he died.
He was a friend of mine.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, two albums later, he\u2019s making another due out next year, one that promises to be as thrilling as the first. He is working with such legends as Ray Manzarek of the Doors, Billy Zoom of X and, of course, Lou Reed. At the same time, the next installment of his diaries, dealing with the Andy Warhol years, is being completed while a film version of Basketball Diaries<\/em> is being made. 18-year-old Anthony Michael Hall is playing Carroll (it was originally to be Matt Dillon, but his manager didn\u2019t want him to do the drug scenes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, we can delve into the visionary experience of a new collection of poems and drug-induced prose poems (called “nods”) entitled The Book of Nods<\/em>. Most were written after the fact, but still contain brilliantly fantastic and surrealistic images and startling concepts, with topics ranging from romance and sex to meetings with historical figures and a trip to Paraguay. Those who still have a romantic obsession with his underground and drug life will be pleased with this book, yet it is as beautiful as his first anthology, a high art that seems eons beyond the first attempts at writing in Diaries<\/em>: “Across the cathedrals of Paris the sun is bending, weary like the eyes of their marble saints, who blow cracked trumpets to the water birds at dawn.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

So much poverty. It follows me through subway cars.
Poverty to die a death within one\u2019s own family.
Poverty of the darkness across the ice. Poverty of cataract eyes.
Poverty of young men alone behind the stairway, who practice
Alchemy inside bottle caps, who know
The altruism of a last syringe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Once just the young listener amid elder contemporaries, Carroll has uncompromisingly proven his talent in a book of passion, vibrating with captivating themes and bold images, swirling with the charisma of Kafka and Rimbaud. More is yet to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 1986 Karl Irving \/ Daily Nexus<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

See Irving’s accompanying interview,\u00a0Nods of Days Gone By<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visions from a Razor’s Edge By\u00a0Karl IrvingUC Santa Barbara\u00a0Daily NexusArts & Entertainment, 22 May 1986, p. 1A, 4A “Fuck it anyway, no dope, no nookie, no queers following me today, I guess you start writing lame diaries like this.” \u2014 Age 14, The Basketball Diaries Reading Jim Carroll can be a dramatic experience. A street-smart … Continue reading Visions from a Razor’s Edge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4163,"menu_order":7,"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":[39],"class_list":["post-4007","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-12D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4127,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/the-jim-carroll-websit-image-gallerye\/","url_meta":{"origin":4007,"position":0},"title":"The Jim Carroll Websit: Image Gallerye","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Patti Smith and Jim Carroll Circa 1969 Photo by Wren D'Antonio This image appears on the inner sleeve of the album You're A Hook: The 15 Year Anniversary of Dial-a-Poem. Giorno Poetry Systems, 1983. The image also appears in a newspaper article, Karl Irving's \"Visions from a Razor's Edge.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4163,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/","url_meta":{"origin":4007,"position":1},"title":"Feature Articles","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Feature articles are general interest articles about Jim Carroll. Some of them include interviews and reviews and, as such, are also included in the Interviews and other areas within the Research Library of the site. These articles are arranged in chronological order. Ted Berrigan, \"Jim Carroll.\" Culture Hero 1.5 (1969).Poet\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4034,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/works-cited\/","url_meta":{"origin":4007,"position":2},"title":"Works Cited","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Works CitedJim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Forced EntriesBy 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 Allen, Donald, ed. The New American Poetry. NewYork: Grove, 1960. Appel, Alfred\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3992,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carrolls-interviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4007,"position":3},"title":"Jim Carroll’s Interviews","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"These, arranged in reverse chronological order, represent just a few of Carroll's interviews. I continue to add more as I have time; most of the newest additions are PDFs. Margo Tiffen, A Previously Unpublished Jim Carroll Interview Surfaces.\" Poetry Foundation 17 May 2017. M. Patricia Li, \"Basketball Diaries Author Bounces\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3993,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-5th-ed\/","url_meta":{"origin":4007,"position":4},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (5th Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basketball Diaries5th EditionBy:\u00a0Jim CarrollPublished:\u00a01998Publisher:\u00a0PenguinFormat:\u00a0PaperbackCover photo:\u00a0Michael ZagarisCover design:\u00a0Edward ODowd The fifth edition of\u00a0The Basketball Diaries\u00a0uses a blue-tinted, closeup version of the same photo used on the\u00a0audiobook\u00a0version, and from the same photo session as the\u00a01980 Bantam (2nd) edition. This edition was issued simultaneously with the\u00a0second edition of Forced Entries. See Also\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art: The Basketball Diaries (1998 edition) - By Jim Carroll","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8651,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-bantam-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":4007,"position":5},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (Bantam Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basketball DiariesSecond EditionBy: Jim CarrollPublished: 1980Publisher: BantamFormat: PaperbackCover photograph: Michael Zagaris The Bantam edition was released alongside the Jim Carroll Band's first album,\u00a0Catholic Boy, and features a cover blurb by Frank Zappa. The jacket photo is from the same photo session as the cover photos on the\u00a01998 edition\u00a0and\u00a0audiobook\u00a0of\u00a0The Basketball\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\/2021\/08\/bd_bantam.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4007","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=4007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8556,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4007\/revisions\/8556"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}