{"id":4024,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4024"},"modified":"2025-07-06T03:05:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T10:05:31","slug":"a-literature-students-dream-jim-carroll-catholicboy-com","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/questions-and-answers\/about-the-webmaster\/a-literature-students-dream-jim-carroll-catholicboy-com\/","title":{"rendered":"A Literature Student’s Dream – Jim Carroll – CatholicBoy.com"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Literature Student’s Dream
By Cassie Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a description of a dream I had around 1989 or 1990. At the time, I was researching my annotated bibliography<\/a> of Jim Carroll (published in <\/em>Bulletin of Bibliography in 1990) and writing my master’s thesis on Carroll’s diaries. At the time of this dream, I was living in California and had never been to New York.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found myself at the tip of Manhattan. A row of old, boarded-up storefronts whose grey paint had curled from years of neglect, bordered the refuse-strewn street. An odor of rotting fish and salt air wafted from the wharves; through a gap between two buildings I could see several decaying cutters somberly rocking against their moorings. A blinding cloud of gulls exploded into flight. I followed their chaotic spiraling until they vanished in the long shadows of distant skyscrapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began walking north, kicking at scraps of wood, rusted tin and shards of glass, along the strand of vacant lots separating me from the skyscrapers. When I reached the first cross street, I met an old man clad in a faded black robe. Trinity High School had fallen years ago, he told me, at least a decade past. Before I could question him, the old man disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I continued walking. As I entered the first building-lined street, a woman approached me from the side. She held a knife to my throat and whispered, “Give me your money.” I showed her I had only five dollars and said, “Please, I’m just looking for someone; won’t you please help me?” She pressed the knife harder against my neck, then, silently, we walked together toward the skyscrapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly, we arrived at the edge of a park, which was much smaller than I had imagined it to be. “He’s not here,” my companion remarked. We walked through the deserted park, and I looked at the blistered benches strewn with newspapers. I picked up one of the yellowed papers, but threw it into the wind. It landed flat on the sidewalk, its blank, sunbleached pages spreading open, flapping vacantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposite end of the park opened onto a wide avenue, with more boarded-up businesses along the west side, and a long strip of lawn and ivy on the other. I had stopped to peer into a whitewashed window [I don’t know how to undo what’s been done. There is an untraceable knot in my head of false facades I have set up . . . dummy corporations whose addresses lead to no place but a mail drop in some abandoned storefront, the windows blanked in whitewash” (FE 120)]<\/em> when my companion suddenly darted into the ivy. Startled, I spun around to see a band of five boys running towards me. I too dove into the ivy. When I finally had courage enough to look, the boys were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We brushed the dirt and leaves off of our clothes and continued northward on the avenue, until it divided before an oddly shaped skyscraper. Here my professor joined us, explaining to my companion that my search would be fruitless. It always was, he said. He and my companion disappeared into the walls of skyscrapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a moment the syringe-like silhouettes of the skyscrapers glowed against daylight’s dying rays. As darkness descended, the city’s silence began to surround me like a vast ocean whose currents were long since stilled. Taxis sat empty and motionless, waiting, beneath twisted lamp posts; subway entrances gaped, like so many burst abcesses. In darkness, I became a shark, endlessly prowling the depths of this ocean city: always searching, never sleeping. Always searching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Literature Student’s DreamBy Cassie Carter This is a description of a dream I had around 1989 or 1990. At the time, I was researching my annotated bibliography of Jim Carroll (published in Bulletin of Bibliography in 1990) and writing my master’s thesis on Carroll’s diaries. At the time of this dream, I was living … Continue reading A Literature Student’s Dream – Jim Carroll – CatholicBoy.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3974,"menu_order":1,"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":[27,18],"class_list":["post-4024","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-12U","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3989,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carroll-bibliographies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4024,"position":0},"title":"Bibliographies","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My research on Jim Carroll began with a bibliography. Bibliographies are lists of sources that you can use to locate articles and other materials in a library. An annotated bibliography includes summaries or descriptions of the materials. My 1990 bibliography (first in the list) is the authoritative source; the other\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3990,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4024,"position":1},"title":"Academic Studies","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Book-length Discussions Cassie Carter, \"Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries.\" 1990. San Diego State U. Master's Thesis.This was the first MA thesis written about Carroll. Jennifer Skye Hunt, \"An Unfinished Heart: Jim Carroll and Ted Berrigan's Collaborations and Mutual Influences.\" 2001. California State University Northridge. Master's Thesis.Pretty sure\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"The Jim Carroll Scholars (L-R): Me; David Gallant (U of Rhode Island); Stephen Perrin (Liverpool Hope University College, UK); Richard Campbell (Winona State University, MN)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/scholars.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/scholars.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/scholars.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3974,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/questions-and-answers\/about-the-webmaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":4024,"position":2},"title":"About the Webmaster","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Greetings! My name is Cassie Carter, and I am the scholar, designer, coder ... everything behind Catholicboy.com. I have been a Jim Carroll fan since I first heard of him in 1987, and a Jim Carroll scholar since 1989. After 20 years in New York City, I am now back\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"The Jim Carroll Scholars (L-R): Me; David Gallant (U of Rhode Island); Stephen Perrin (Liverpool Hope University College, UK); Richard Campbell (Winona State University, MN)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/scholars.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/scholars.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/scholars.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3998,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carroll-bibliographies\/jim-carroll-a-secondary-bibliography-1969-1996\/","url_meta":{"origin":4024,"position":3},"title":"Jim Carroll: A Secondary Bibliography, 1969-1996","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Bibliographies > Jim Carroll: A Secondary Bibliography, 1969-1996 Jim Carroll: A Secondary Bibliography, 1969-1996 By Cassie Carter Updated 7 June 1997 My original, annotated bibliography appeared in Bulletin of Bibliography 47.2 (1990). I occasionally update the secondary works section (works ABOUT Jim Carroll) via this page,\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":4024,"position":4},"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":4043,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/home-research-academic-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4024,"position":5},"title":"Thesis TOC","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Academic Studies Table of Contents Shit Into Gold: Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries By Cassie Carter Title Page If you want to cite this thesis, here's where you find the bibliographic information. Table of Contents This page. Abstract Summary of the thesis. Chapter\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\/4024","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10543,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4024\/revisions\/10543"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}