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The Basketball Diaries
Encyclopedia
The Basketball Diaries is a 1978
memoir
written by author and musician Jim Carroll
. It is an edited collection of the diaries he kept between the ages of twelve and sixteen. Set in New York City
, they detail his daily life, sexual experiences, high school basketball career, Cold War
paranoia, the counter-culture movement, and, especially, his addiction to heroin, which began when he was 13. The book is considered a classic piece of adolescent literature.
Carroll later followed up his original memoirs with a sequel of sorts called The Downtown Diaries
which follows his relocation to California and his continued addiction to heroin.
in 1995 starring Leonardo DiCaprio
as Jim Carroll.
1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
written by author and musician Jim Carroll
Jim Carroll
James Dennis "Jim" Carroll was an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.-Biography:Carroll was born to a...
. It is an edited collection of the diaries he kept between the ages of twelve and sixteen. Set in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, they detail his daily life, sexual experiences, high school basketball career, Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
paranoia, the counter-culture movement, and, especially, his addiction to heroin, which began when he was 13. The book is considered a classic piece of adolescent literature.
Carroll later followed up his original memoirs with a sequel of sorts called The Downtown Diaries
The Downtown Diaries
Was a book written by Jim Carroll, it depicted his life from the years 1971 to 1973. While the book was called the Downtown Diaries, it was not a literal diary, such as the Basketball Diaries...
which follows his relocation to California and his continued addiction to heroin.
Film adaptation
The book was made into a film of the same nameThe Basketball Diaries (film)
The Basketball Diaries is a 1995 American drama film directed by Scott Kalvert, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, James Madio, and Mark Wahlberg...
in 1995 starring Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
as Jim Carroll.