{"id":4595,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4228"},"modified":"2023-03-22T00:46:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T07:46:27","slug":"review-of-the-basketball-diaries-and-foreced-entries-by-christopher-lehmann-haupt-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-the-basketball-diaries-and-foreced-entries-by-christopher-lehmann-haupt-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Basketball Diaries and Foreced Entries by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\nHome<\/a> > Research<\/a> > Book Reviews<\/a> > Review of The Basketball Diaries<\/i> and Foreced Entries<\/i> by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt<\/span>
\nBooks of the Times<\/span><\/p>\n

The Basketball Diaries<\/i> & Forced Entries<\/i><\/h2>\n

Review by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
\nThe New York Times<\/a> July 9, 1987
\n Late City Final Edition, C23<\/span><\/p>\n

JIM CARROLL is a poet and rock
\n musician in his mid-30’s who grew up in several poor sections of Manhattan, the son and
\n grandson of Irish Catholic bartenders. In the fall of 1963, when he was all of 13 years
\n old, he began keeping a diary: ”Today was my first Biddy League game and my first day in
\n any organized basketball league. I’m enthused about life due to this exciting event. The
\n Biddy League is a league for anyone 12 yrs. old or under. I’m actually 13 but my coach
\n Lefty gave me a fake birth certificate.” <\/p>\n

\n The diary project proved successful. He kept at it for at least three years, later
\n published excerpts of it in The Paris Review <\/i> and other magazines, and eventually brought
\n out a version of it in book form, The Basketball Diaries <\/i> (1978), which created
\n something of a sensation for its hair-raising portrait of adolescent street life in New
\n York. <\/p>\n

It was not a book that
\n seemed likely to produce a sequel. Filled with a kind of vitality, though clearly
\n exaggerated in its boastful accounts of drinking, drugs, sex and every sort of crime from
\n stealing cars to hustling homosexuals in Times Square, the diary’s final entry leaves its
\n author on the brink of the abyss:\n <\/p>\n

\n “Totally zonked, and all the dope scraped or sniffed clean from the tiny cellophane bags.
\n Four days of temporary death gone by, no more bread, with its hundreds of nods and casual
\n theories, soaky nostalgia (I could have got that for free walking along Fifth Avenue at
\n noon), at any rate, a thousand goofs, some still hazy in my noodle . . . Nice June day out
\n today, lots of people probably graduating. I can see the Cloisters with its million in
\n medieval art out the bedroom window. I got to go in and puke. I just want to be pure.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But
\n behold, a sequel has now been published, Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries,
\n 1971-1973 <\/i>, which appears along with a new edition of The Basketball Diaries <\/i>. Jim
\n Carroll is 20 as it opens. He regrets having thrown away his basketball career – ”I’m
\n sitting here watching the N.B.A. All-Star Game on TV and I’m watching guys I used to
\n seriously abuse on the court scoring in double figures now against the best in the game.”<\/p>\n

But
\n he’s embraced the life he’s leading – hanging out at Max’s Kansas City, working for Andy
\n Warhol at the Factory, publishing occasional poems, socializing with the likes of Allen
\n Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, George Balanchine and William S. Burroughs, and doing drugs even more
\n intensely, if possible.<\/p>\n

The
\n voice is grown up now. There are occasional vestiges of its origins (”That was it for
\n Anne and Ted and I . . .,” but the whine and the adolescent strutting are gone. The
\n author now admits that the entries are ”embellished and fictionalized to some extent . .
\n . mainly for the sake of humor,” which, he has found, ”has an uncanny ability to create
\n its own energy and push on a writer against his will.” <\/p>\n

He
\n is reaching for something deeper now. Instead of hip talk, he’s trying for poetry. Of a
\n stately Times Square prostitute he writes, ”The whole effect . . . was as if someone had
\n placed a Rubens portrait at the bottom of a cesspool, and after centuries of strangeness
\n and decay among the stillness of vile things and vile notions, some chance lightning hit<\/p>\n

Instead
\n of teen-age bravado, he writes of violent suicide, of ”evil as a pervasive entity,” and
\n of the emptiness of adolescent fantasies. ”And what is it you want?” he asks of his
\n desire for a fashion model he sees on an elevator. ”It is not sexual, though you do want
\n her. You want her because, in some unfathomed way, she is the proof, the proof of those
\n things you always knew existed but could not define. Yet you’ve had women like this in the
\n past, and in the end they proved nothing. They solved nothing. They were usually not too
\n bright and were terribly self-indulgent. They were, as this one is, only another emblem of
\n your own vanity, and the vanity of your Art.” <\/p>\n

Despite
\n the maturing voice of Forced Entries <\/i>, the two diaries remain similar in their quest
\n for extreme sensations and their eagerness to shock the reader. One is aware almost
\n throughout that the author is more intelligent than he appears and that he takes a certain
\n pride in dissipating his gifts.<\/p>\n

And
\n yet the diarist finally gains control of himself. The image with which he dramatizes his
\n victory over drugs will disgust many readers, just as many of his effects will seem
\n excessively overwrought. But readers who can stomach the ending of Forced Entries<\/i> will
\n find it both effective and convincing. And beside the description of his cure there is the
\n external evidence of the poetry collections he has published since 1973 — Living at the
\n Movies <\/i> (1973) and The Book of Nods <\/i> (1986) — as well as the three music albums he has
\n released — Catholic Boy<\/i>, Dry Dreams <\/i> and I Write Your Name <\/i>.<\/p>\n

But
\n whether or not one believes Jim Carroll’s redemption, his two diaries constitute a
\n remarkable account of New York City’s lower depths. At the very least, they should serve
\n further to demystify the usefulness of drugs to writers. Finally, the main reason that Mr.
\n Carroll decides to kick his habit is for the sake of his art. ”It’s my only choice for my
\n work. I need a consistency of my moods if there is to be any consistency in my style. I
\n can’t attempt to write always in the hollow flux of desperation and incipient terror. I
\n try to cover this up, cower behind some facade of humor, hoping that old Aristotle was
\n right — that humor will act as a catalyst to purify the tragic. But it can’t go on. My body
\n is broke.” He has to mend himself, unpleasant though the purging proves to be. <\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a9 The New York Times Company<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
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Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of The Basketball Diaries and Foreced Entries by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt Books of the Times The Basketball Diaries & Forced Entries Review by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt The New York Times July 9, 1987 Late City Final Edition, C23 JIM CARROLL is a poet and rock musician in his mid-30’s … Continue reading Review of The Basketball Diaries and Foreced Entries by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3988,"menu_order":14,"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-4595","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-1c7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3988,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4595,"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":5904,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carroll-biographies\/jim-carroll-contemporary-authors-2000\/","url_meta":{"origin":4595,"position":1},"title":"Jim Carroll: Contemporary Authors 2000","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll Contemporary Authors Online (Gale 2000) Jim Carroll 1951- Nationality:\u00a0American Source:\u00a0Contemporary Authors Online.\u00a0The Gale Group, 2000. \"Sidelights\" By the time he was eighteen years old, Jim Carroll had already gained a reputation as one of the most prominent poets in the New York-based beat community. His gritty urban poetry\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":4595,"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":3998,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/jim-carroll-bibliographies\/jim-carroll-a-secondary-bibliography-1969-1996\/","url_meta":{"origin":4595,"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":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":4595,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":4003,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4595,"position":5},"title":"Diaries and Fiction by Jim Carroll","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Petting Zoo: A NovelPublished:\u00a0November 8, 2010By:\u00a0Jim CarrollPublisher:\u00a0VikingCarroll was putting the finishing touches on his first novel,\u00a0The Petting Zoo, when he passed away in 2009. Protagonist Billy Wolfram, a hot young artist in late 1980s NYC, suffers a psychological and spiritual breakdown while viewing the Met's Velasquez retrospective and desperately\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\/04\/PettingZooLarge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4595","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=4595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6026,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4595\/revisions\/6026"}],"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=4595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}