{"id":4141,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T06:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4141"},"modified":"2023-03-29T20:37:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T03:37:03","slug":"abstract","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/abstract\/","title":{"rendered":"Abstract"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abstract
Jim Carroll’s The Basketball Diaries<\/em> and Forced Entries<\/em><\/span>
By Cassie Carter <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Title Page<\/a> \u00a0 Table of Contents<\/a> \u00a0 Abstract<\/strong> \u00a0 Chapter One<\/a> \u00a0 Chapter Two<\/a> \u00a0 Chapter Three<\/a> \u00a0 Chapter Four<\/a> \u00a0 Appendix<\/a> \u00a0 Notes<\/a> \u00a0 Works Cited<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the time Jim Carroll was 16 years old, he was a heroin addict, a male prostitute, and a star basketball player, and had published his first book of poems, Organic Trains<\/em>. By the time he was 30 years old, he had conquered his “epic” heroin addiction, had published four books, and was a rock ‘n’ roll star. However, while his biography is a fascinating story in itself, Carroll is more than a decadent culture hero. As a writer, Carroll is an alchemist capable of transforming the “shit” of his life into gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this transformation is evident in all of his work, and while Carroll’s perpetual redefinition of himself and his past continues to this day, this thesis covers only his two diaries in order to emphasize the artistic sensibility Carroll has developed over the last 27 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Basketball Diaries<\/em>, in his attempts to authenticate himself, Carroll is initiated into a corrupt world of pedophiliac coaches and priests, the cold war, drug raids, racial prejudice, and social snobbery. Finding himself a victim of this world, he uses writing as a weapon to overcome his victimization. Through his diaries, he becomes the mirror image of the savage world in which he lives, revealing its corruption while defining himself and exhorting his “punk” code of integrity and honor through his poetic prose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, because the decadence of his Basketball Diaries<\/em> persona, rather than the writer who transformed his experience, became the definition of Carroll both in the 1970s and the 1980s, he was “forced” to begin again the task of redefining himself and his past with Forced Entries<\/em>. In this second diary, written during the 1980s after he had become a rock ‘n’ roll star, Carroll documents his adventures during the 1970s as a young art scene initiate attempting to overcome his “street punk” identity. In “The Downtown Diaries” of Forced Entries<\/em>, he enters the art scene to authenticate himself as an artist, but finds the scene elitist, hypocritical, and corrupt. Even worse, because of his heroin addiction and his desperate desire to be part of the glitzy art scene, Carroll falls victim to the hypocrisy and corruption he thought he was above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, in order to recapture his artistic sensibility and sense of self, Carroll embarks upon two interconnected quests, one of which is part of the literal “plot” of the diary, and one of which lies in his continuing struggle as a writer to redefine his past. First, in “The Move to California,” he flees to California to conquer his heroin addiction and regain his poetic vision. Second, because he wrote Forced Entries<\/em> as rock star\/poet who had been misunderstood and nearly condemned because of his adolescent past, Forced Entries<\/em> takes on the tone of a confessional, through which he goes through the process of penance, purging and redeeming himself of his sins by writing about them. Hence, by restructuring his past in all of his work, and by confessing his sins in Forced Entries<\/em>, he emerges redeemed, effectively recontextualizing The Basketball Diaries<\/em>, Catholic Boy<\/em>, and his entire past, and his entry into rock ‘n’ roll becomes his salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Previous: Table of Contents<\/a><\/td>Next: Shit Into Gold<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a91990 Cassie Carter. This material may not be reprinted except by permission from the author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract 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 By the time Jim Carroll was 16 years old, he was a heroin addict, a male … Continue reading Abstract<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":4148,"menu_order":2,"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":[83],"class_list":["post-4141","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-14N","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4510,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/table-of-contents\/","url_meta":{"origin":4141,"position":0},"title":"Table of Contents","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Table of ContentsJim 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 Abstract Summary of the thesis. Chapter One - Introduction: Shit Into\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4148,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/","url_meta":{"origin":4141,"position":1},"title":"1990 Master’s Thesis on The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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 JIM CARROLL'S BASKETBALL DIARIESAND FORCED ENTRIES: SHIT INTO GOLD A Thesispresented to theFaculty ofSan Diego State University In Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9871,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/jim-macnie-review-of-pools-of-mercury-boston-phoenix-1998\/","url_meta":{"origin":4141,"position":2},"title":"Jim Macnie – Review of\u00a0Pools of Mercury – Boston Phoenix 1998","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Pools of MercuryReview by Jim MacnieBoston Phoenix, 9 November 1998 **1\/2 It starts with a promise of decapitation, as if to prove that his punkishness is still in effect almost two decades after Catholic Boy's skag stories turned heads. And it ends with an evaluation of Kurt Cobain's pre-blast psyche,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10197,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/excerpts-from-the-98-yearbook-the-years-highs-and-lows-by-jackie-mccarthy-seattle-weekly\/","url_meta":{"origin":4141,"position":3},"title":"Excerpts from The ’98 yearbook – The year’s highs and lows – By Jackie McCarthy – Seattle Weekly","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Excerpts from The '98 yearbookRewinding and revisiting the year's highs and lowsBy Jackie McCarthySeattle Weekly, 24-30 December 1998 Records The 1998 Mix Tape: \"Simple Man,\" Josh Wink (featuring the Interpreters),\u00a0Herehear \"Naxalite,\" Asian Dub Foundation,\u00a0Rafi's Revenge\u00a0 \"Object Unknown,\" DJ Spooky (featuring Kool Keith),\u00a0Riddim Warfare \"World That I Know,\" Esthero & Goodie\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":4141,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":4061,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/music-jim-carroll-jim-carroll-band\/a-world-without-gravity\/","url_meta":{"origin":4141,"position":5},"title":"A World Without Gravity","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cover Art - A World Without Gravity: The Best of The Jim Carroll Band (1993) Best of the Jim Carroll BandBy The Jim Carroll BandRhino, 1993 Get this on iTunes or Amazon.comSee also: Lyrics and audio library Songs: People Who Died Work Not Play Differing Touch It's Too Late Wicked\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art - A World Without Gravity: The Best of The Jim Carroll Band (1993)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bestof.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4141","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=4141"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7183,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4141\/revisions\/7183"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}