Table of Contents
Jim Carroll’s The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries
By Cassie Carter
Abstract
Summary of the thesis.
Chapter One – Introduction: Shit Into Gold
Through writing, Carroll transforms his triumphs and his most vile experiences into poems, diaries,
and songs of visionary beauty. As a writer, Carroll is an alchemist capable of transforming shit into gold.
Chapter Two – The Basketball Diaries Writing as a Weapon
The beauty of The Basketball Diaries is its optimism: more than anything it is about the potential
an individual has to transcend the victimization of a corrupt system. Carroll shows it is possible to make a difference both in the way he lives his life and by creating a better world through art.
Chapter Three – Forced Entries: Writing as Penance
Because the writer that he is grows out of his experiencing and transforming his double life, Carroll must embrace his past and write about it. In many ways, Carroll’s becoming a Writer depends first upon accepting the character identity of The Basketball Diaries then overcoming and transcending that identity to legitimize himself as an Artist. Also, he must come to terms with his addiction: he must retain enough personal control to continue writing while still “hooked.”
Chapter Four – Conclusion: Writing as Redemption
Because Carroll revises and redefines his identity and his past with each work, a discussion of his diaries alone barely scrapes the surface in revealing his achievement as both an artist and the creator of himself. Only by appreciating the complex interplay between Carroll’s songwriting, poetry, and his diaries is it possible to see to what extent, and how, Carroll has been able to revise and transform his past.
Appendix
Chronology (outdated).
Notes
Footnotes and references.
Works Cited
List of all sources used in the thesis.
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©1990 Cassie Carter. This material may not be reprinted except by permission from the author.