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Visions of Gerard
'The piteousness of his little soft shroud of hair falling down his brow and swept aside by the hand over blue serious eyes'
Described by Kerouac as 'my most serious sad and true book', Visions of Gerard forms the first volume of his memoir cycle the 'Duluoz Legend'. Based on Jack Kerouac's memories of the beloved older brother who died when he was a boy, it is unique among his novels for its dreamlike evocation of the sensations of childhood - its wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, joy and pain. It is a haunting exploration of the precariousness of existence. 'Called a "pain-tale" by Kerouac, it's the story of an almost divine, Buddha-like child wracked with sickness and suffering' Guardian
Described by Kerouac as 'my most serious sad and true book', Visions of Gerard forms the first volume of his memoir cycle the 'Duluoz Legend'. Based on Jack Kerouac's memories of the beloved older brother who died when he was a boy, it is unique among his novels for its dreamlike evocation of the sensations of childhood - its wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, joy and pain. It is a haunting exploration of the precariousness of existence. 'Called a "pain-tale" by Kerouac, it's the story of an almost divine, Buddha-like child wracked with sickness and suffering' Guardian
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
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2476 people want to read
About the author
Jack Kerouac
359 books11.5k followersJean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was The Town and the City (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, On the Road, in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes.
Kerouac is recognized for his style of stream of consciousness spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as his Catholic spirituality, jazz, travel, promiscuity, life in New York City, Buddhism, drugs, and poverty. He became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. He has a lasting legacy, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and The Doors.
In 1969, at the age of 47, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published.
Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was The Town and the City (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, On the Road, in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes.
Kerouac is recognized for his style of stream of consciousness spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as his Catholic spirituality, jazz, travel, promiscuity, life in New York City, Buddhism, drugs, and poverty. He became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. He has a lasting legacy, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and The Doors.
In 1969, at the age of 47, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
March 20, 2021
[27th book of 2021. Artist for this review is American photographer Dorothea Lange—photographs (unless stated otherwise) are not of any of the people in this book, but rather photographs that capture the feeling.]
We have a scan of one of Kerouac's notebooks in which he outlined the chronological order of the Duluoz Legend as he had written it so far. It is incomplete as he went on to write novels later on that fit earlier in the story's order. For example, this novel was published in 1963, and is his 11th or 12th novel, but the first chronological installment in the Legend. It is so early in Kerouac's life that he barely features in it himself, being only 4-years-old; with that in mind, this is perhaps one of the more overtly "fictional" novels of the Legend. The narrative goes into Gerard's head, and follows Kerouac's father on trips to the pub. It is essentially drawing a portrait of Kerouac's family during his older brother's illness [rheumatic fever]. Gerard is 9-years-old and the plot of this novel is his inevitable spiralling towards death.
Kerouac's aforementioned notebook page.
Of course, this is a biased portrait of a family. Kerouac, presumably, does not entirely remember his feelings at the age of 4 and so the emotion we have coming from the prose is the 41-year-old Jacky writing his own past, and his own family's portrayal, too. Gerard is presented from the get-go as some Zen-like boy, heavenly, spiritual. On page 2 of the novel it says, The world a hatch of Duluoz Saintliness, and him the big chicken, Gerard, who warned me to be kind to little animals and took me by the hand on forgotten little walks.
At certain points in the narrative, Kerouac admits he does not know something, or his memory his hazy, which strikes oddly when entire sections of the novel are completely without his 4-year-old-self present. As ever, he is blending the concept of fact and fiction, which is one of my favourite things to read. It's also a hazy love-letter to Lowell, Massachusetts where Kerouac grew up. He called this novel of his own a "pain-tale", and there's no supposing why.
Gerard is 9-years-old and dying. His death also brings about many interesting ideas that Kerouac was probably battling with, and had been battling with. He wrote this in '63 and was dead by '69 due to the amount he drank. I don't know if it's true but I remember reading once that he had told his friends he couldn't kill himself, on account of being Catholic, so was going to drink himself to death instead. There's some poignant lines regarding religion throughout the novel, particularly, from Gerard, who is facing the fact that he may soon be going to Heaven—would make an angel melt—If angels were angels in the first place.
Francois Gerard Kerouac's Grave—Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
As for the prose itself: Kerouac gets a lot of negative reviews, and frankly, I've never met a true Kerouac fan in person. My old professor once said he "understood" my love for him, but whether that meant because it was a love he shared or not, I don't know. It's not often you see anything to do with Kerouac without his drinking being mentioned, his spontaneous prose, and the fact that Capote called his work "typing, not writing"; I disagree with Capote, but I like his work too. Kerouac's novels have a certain rhythm to them and I think it's the sort of writing you have to get used to. Here's an example of some beautiful prose, in my eyes, but not the sort of prose you would read anywhere else: All of a sudden tossed wars of tree-tops will be warmer wars and less dry and crackety ones, and there'll be rumours and singing down the hillsides as snow melts, running for cover under the bloody light, to join the river's big body— It's rambly, poetic; Kerouac often doesn't bother with punctuation or the "rules" of it, and he even said in a late interview with "The Paris Review" that publishers were told not to change his prose, but to leave it, as it was, "mistakes" and all.
Finally though, this slim novella all falls back to Gerard and his death, which the novel slowly floats towards in a dreamlike stupor. And because it is such a personal novel, Kerouac is rather confessional (as he is in his best novels—in a sick sort of way, Kerouac's best writing comes from his weakness being shown, rather than the idealism of his younger writing): And there's no doubt in my heart that my mother loves Gerard more than she loves me. And, a large confession again that reflects on the Duluoz Legend itself:
I won't spoil the real heartbreaking bits as Gerard dies and some of the dialogue, real or not, that Kerouac's mother wails. There's a very poignant bit around the middle of the novella where Gerard is in school and falls asleep at his desk and is woken by his teacher and tells her that he, in his dream, has been to Heaven; he frightens everyone around him. I wonder how I would have reacted to this had I read it in its proper position as the first book in the Legend. I think Kerouac takes time to like; a few years ago I read On the Road and didn't know what I thought of it. This is now my 11th Kerouac novel, and I consider him one of my favourite writers and biggest influences, his flaws and all. The 4-year-old Kerouac in these pages has not yet met the road.
We have a scan of one of Kerouac's notebooks in which he outlined the chronological order of the Duluoz Legend as he had written it so far. It is incomplete as he went on to write novels later on that fit earlier in the story's order. For example, this novel was published in 1963, and is his 11th or 12th novel, but the first chronological installment in the Legend. It is so early in Kerouac's life that he barely features in it himself, being only 4-years-old; with that in mind, this is perhaps one of the more overtly "fictional" novels of the Legend. The narrative goes into Gerard's head, and follows Kerouac's father on trips to the pub. It is essentially drawing a portrait of Kerouac's family during his older brother's illness [rheumatic fever]. Gerard is 9-years-old and the plot of this novel is his inevitable spiralling towards death.
Kerouac's aforementioned notebook page.
Of course, this is a biased portrait of a family. Kerouac, presumably, does not entirely remember his feelings at the age of 4 and so the emotion we have coming from the prose is the 41-year-old Jacky writing his own past, and his own family's portrayal, too. Gerard is presented from the get-go as some Zen-like boy, heavenly, spiritual. On page 2 of the novel it says, The world a hatch of Duluoz Saintliness, and him the big chicken, Gerard, who warned me to be kind to little animals and took me by the hand on forgotten little walks.
At certain points in the narrative, Kerouac admits he does not know something, or his memory his hazy, which strikes oddly when entire sections of the novel are completely without his 4-year-old-self present. As ever, he is blending the concept of fact and fiction, which is one of my favourite things to read. It's also a hazy love-letter to Lowell, Massachusetts where Kerouac grew up. He called this novel of his own a "pain-tale", and there's no supposing why.
Gerard is 9-years-old and dying. His death also brings about many interesting ideas that Kerouac was probably battling with, and had been battling with. He wrote this in '63 and was dead by '69 due to the amount he drank. I don't know if it's true but I remember reading once that he had told his friends he couldn't kill himself, on account of being Catholic, so was going to drink himself to death instead. There's some poignant lines regarding religion throughout the novel, particularly, from Gerard, who is facing the fact that he may soon be going to Heaven—would make an angel melt—If angels were angels in the first place.
Francois Gerard Kerouac's Grave—Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
As for the prose itself: Kerouac gets a lot of negative reviews, and frankly, I've never met a true Kerouac fan in person. My old professor once said he "understood" my love for him, but whether that meant because it was a love he shared or not, I don't know. It's not often you see anything to do with Kerouac without his drinking being mentioned, his spontaneous prose, and the fact that Capote called his work "typing, not writing"; I disagree with Capote, but I like his work too. Kerouac's novels have a certain rhythm to them and I think it's the sort of writing you have to get used to. Here's an example of some beautiful prose, in my eyes, but not the sort of prose you would read anywhere else: All of a sudden tossed wars of tree-tops will be warmer wars and less dry and crackety ones, and there'll be rumours and singing down the hillsides as snow melts, running for cover under the bloody light, to join the river's big body— It's rambly, poetic; Kerouac often doesn't bother with punctuation or the "rules" of it, and he even said in a late interview with "The Paris Review" that publishers were told not to change his prose, but to leave it, as it was, "mistakes" and all.
Finally though, this slim novella all falls back to Gerard and his death, which the novel slowly floats towards in a dreamlike stupor. And because it is such a personal novel, Kerouac is rather confessional (as he is in his best novels—in a sick sort of way, Kerouac's best writing comes from his weakness being shown, rather than the idealism of his younger writing): And there's no doubt in my heart that my mother loves Gerard more than she loves me. And, a large confession again that reflects on the Duluoz Legend itself:
I'm grown sick in my papers (my writing papers, my bloody 'literary career' ladies and gentlemen) and the whole reason why I ever wrote at all and drew breath to bite in vain with pen and ink, great gad with indefensible Usable pencil, because of Gerard [...]
I won't spoil the real heartbreaking bits as Gerard dies and some of the dialogue, real or not, that Kerouac's mother wails. There's a very poignant bit around the middle of the novella where Gerard is in school and falls asleep at his desk and is woken by his teacher and tells her that he, in his dream, has been to Heaven; he frightens everyone around him. I wonder how I would have reacted to this had I read it in its proper position as the first book in the Legend. I think Kerouac takes time to like; a few years ago I read On the Road and didn't know what I thought of it. This is now my 11th Kerouac novel, and I consider him one of my favourite writers and biggest influences, his flaws and all. The 4-year-old Kerouac in these pages has not yet met the road.
September 27, 2024
Kerouac And His Brother
Jack Kerouac's short novel, "Visions of Gerard" tells the story of the death of Kerouac's beloved older brother Gerard (b. 1917) in 1926. Gerard was nine and Jack was four Kerouac (1922 -- 1969) wrote the book in 1956, after "On the Road" had been written but before it was published. "Visions of Gerard" was not published until 1962, when Kerouac had become famous. It received poor reviews.
Set in Lowell, Massachusetts, the novel describes the last year of Gerard's life. It portrays young Gerard together with the boys' father and mother and to a lesser extent their sister. Kerouac remembers and writes about the French-Canadian Catholic community of Lowell in which he grew up.
Gerard was a crucial figure for Kerouac throughout his life. The "visions" offered of Gerard in this book should be seen as reflections of Kerouac's own life in the 1950s more than as the memories of a four year old boy. Kerouac remembers young Gerard as a saintly character who loved all things, particularly animals, and who had a deeply religious sense in a pantheistic way. Kerouac introduces Gerard and shows his feelings for his brother, and develops his own view of life, in the novel's opening pages. He writes;
"It was only many years later when I met and understood Savas Savakis [a childhood friend] that I recalled the definite and immortal idealism which had been imparted me by my holy brother. -- And even later with the discovery (or dullmouthed amazed hang-middle mindburnt waking re- discovery) of Buddhism. Awakened-hood -- Amazed recollection that from the very beginning I, whoever 'I' or whatever 'I' was, was destined, destined indeed to meet, learn understand Gerard and Savas and the Blessed Lord Buddha, (and my sweet Christ too through all his Paulinian tangles and bloody crosses of heathen violence) -- To awaken to pure faith in the bright one truth: All is Well, practice Kindness, Heaven is Nigh."
This passage shows many of "Visions of Gerard's strengths and weakness -- the overblown, wordy language which also can be moving -- the focus on mystical religiosity, the author's self-indulgence, and, not least, Kerouac's love for his brother and his sorrow over his early death. Kerouac describes the love of the two young brothers in scenes with the family cat, Gerard's mystical visions of heaven in parochial school, one of his confessions, and the progressively dehabilitating nature of his painful,fatal illness. Kerouac also describes his then-young father who worked ambitiously as a printer but was doomed by his addictions to gambling and alcohol. The climax of the book is the death of Gerard and a depiction of the young boy's funeral.
The book has its flaws, but it works. The sense of Gerard -- or of the grown Kerouac's recollections of his brother -- comes through. The boy's grief and his family's grief over the death of the child is unmistakably heartfelt. Many of the book's early critics found that the bloated language of the book and Kerouac's self-preoccupation took away from Gerard and his death -- -- on the whole I didn't find it so. The religious vision to which Kerouac aspired is presented here projected upon Kerouac's feelings for his "sainted" dead brother.
Kerouac later wrote that he intended "Visions of Gerard" as chronologically the first of a series of novels of his life presenting the "Duluoz Legend". He envisioned that the "whole thing forms one enormous comedy, seen through the eyes of poor Ti Jean (me), otherwise known as Jack Duluoz, the world of raging action and folly and also of gentle sweetness seen through the keyhole of his eye." "Visions of Gerard" may have outlasted its early poor reviews as it is about to be made available in a new Library of America compilation of Kerouac novels. Jack Kerouac: Visions of Cody, Visions of Gerard, Big Sur: (Library of America #262) Admirers of Kerouac will want to read this story of Kerouac and his brother.
Robin Friedman
Jack Kerouac's short novel, "Visions of Gerard" tells the story of the death of Kerouac's beloved older brother Gerard (b. 1917) in 1926. Gerard was nine and Jack was four Kerouac (1922 -- 1969) wrote the book in 1956, after "On the Road" had been written but before it was published. "Visions of Gerard" was not published until 1962, when Kerouac had become famous. It received poor reviews.
Set in Lowell, Massachusetts, the novel describes the last year of Gerard's life. It portrays young Gerard together with the boys' father and mother and to a lesser extent their sister. Kerouac remembers and writes about the French-Canadian Catholic community of Lowell in which he grew up.
Gerard was a crucial figure for Kerouac throughout his life. The "visions" offered of Gerard in this book should be seen as reflections of Kerouac's own life in the 1950s more than as the memories of a four year old boy. Kerouac remembers young Gerard as a saintly character who loved all things, particularly animals, and who had a deeply religious sense in a pantheistic way. Kerouac introduces Gerard and shows his feelings for his brother, and develops his own view of life, in the novel's opening pages. He writes;
"It was only many years later when I met and understood Savas Savakis [a childhood friend] that I recalled the definite and immortal idealism which had been imparted me by my holy brother. -- And even later with the discovery (or dullmouthed amazed hang-middle mindburnt waking re- discovery) of Buddhism. Awakened-hood -- Amazed recollection that from the very beginning I, whoever 'I' or whatever 'I' was, was destined, destined indeed to meet, learn understand Gerard and Savas and the Blessed Lord Buddha, (and my sweet Christ too through all his Paulinian tangles and bloody crosses of heathen violence) -- To awaken to pure faith in the bright one truth: All is Well, practice Kindness, Heaven is Nigh."
This passage shows many of "Visions of Gerard's strengths and weakness -- the overblown, wordy language which also can be moving -- the focus on mystical religiosity, the author's self-indulgence, and, not least, Kerouac's love for his brother and his sorrow over his early death. Kerouac describes the love of the two young brothers in scenes with the family cat, Gerard's mystical visions of heaven in parochial school, one of his confessions, and the progressively dehabilitating nature of his painful,fatal illness. Kerouac also describes his then-young father who worked ambitiously as a printer but was doomed by his addictions to gambling and alcohol. The climax of the book is the death of Gerard and a depiction of the young boy's funeral.
The book has its flaws, but it works. The sense of Gerard -- or of the grown Kerouac's recollections of his brother -- comes through. The boy's grief and his family's grief over the death of the child is unmistakably heartfelt. Many of the book's early critics found that the bloated language of the book and Kerouac's self-preoccupation took away from Gerard and his death -- -- on the whole I didn't find it so. The religious vision to which Kerouac aspired is presented here projected upon Kerouac's feelings for his "sainted" dead brother.
Kerouac later wrote that he intended "Visions of Gerard" as chronologically the first of a series of novels of his life presenting the "Duluoz Legend". He envisioned that the "whole thing forms one enormous comedy, seen through the eyes of poor Ti Jean (me), otherwise known as Jack Duluoz, the world of raging action and folly and also of gentle sweetness seen through the keyhole of his eye." "Visions of Gerard" may have outlasted its early poor reviews as it is about to be made available in a new Library of America compilation of Kerouac novels. Jack Kerouac: Visions of Cody, Visions of Gerard, Big Sur: (Library of America #262) Admirers of Kerouac will want to read this story of Kerouac and his brother.
Robin Friedman
May 25, 2025
... if he were here to bless my pencil as I undertake and draw breath to tell his pain-tale for the world that needs his soft and loving like.
In 1955, Kerouac told his editor Malcolm Crowley that 'everything from now on belongs to The Duluoz Legend... When I'm done, in about 10, 15 years, it will cover all the years of my life, like Proust, but done on the run, a Running Proust.' This short book, first published in 1958, is the start of that epic journey, recalling the brief and resonant life of Gerard, Kerouac's older brother who died in 1926 aged just 9 and when Kerouac was himself only 4 years old. While drawing, then, on biography this, like Proust, is also fictionalised and shaped from a point thirty years later, a retrospective, if you will, from a life that seeks to make poetic claims on a childhood, early family life and a past.
This is a short self-described 'pain-tale' which gives to Gerard a form of buddhist zen as he contemplates life and death with a kind of religious ecstasy far beyond his years, even being figured as a Christ-like figure undergoing a crucifixion of pain for the saving of his brother. At times this was a stretch for my more cynical and irreligious self, not least the scenes where Gerard talks to the birds like a kind of proto-Disney Snow White. But it's worth overcoming my own misgivings as what is decisively Catholic in this book, complete with confessions and a belief in sin, also serves as a root to the broader spirituality that we find in Kerouac's later fiction: that sense of the worthlessness and emptiness of the material world and a constant yearning for meaning and rootedness that underpins a classic like On the Road. Indeed, we can traces the beginnings of what would become the wide and unclosed contours of Beat philosophy, without dogma or defined and closed creeds.
At the same time, we get an insight into a (possibly romanticised) view of Kerouac's childhood in Lowell, Massachusetts. His French-Canadian father is especially vivid: 'there's my pa - Emil Alcide Duluoz, at that time, 1925, a hale young printer of 36, dark complexioned, frowning, serious, hardjawed but soft in the gut' - a tough man who also feels no shame in openly showing his love for his children, especially his weak, frail and not-long-for-this-world Gerard.
There is a slight touch of 'portrait of the artist as a young man' here too: 'Arguments that raged later between my father and myself about my refusal to go to work - "I wanta write - I'm an artist" - "Artist shmartist, ya can't be supported all ya life -". And even Gerard's youthful death becomes part of the mythology as he transforms into a kind of guardian angel spreading his wings over the troubled life of Jack Deluoz/Kerouac and, it is implied, safeguards his wondrous writing.
June 8, 2020
I was going to read Visions of Cody (Kerouac's fictional Neal Cassady) but when I realised Visions of Gerald was based upon the short life of his sick brother I thought I'd rather read this. For me I've always found Kerouac books hovering around the three star rating, and its the same here, yet something finds me returning to his writing every now and again regardless. Who knows, maybe one day I'll come across something that really blows me away, and as he did write an awful lot, the odds aren't bad I'd say. So here Kerouac relates to his brother Gerard who passed away at the very young age of nine. The narrative is like a codex of Jack’s memory, making firm those ephemeral thoughts of childhood that so inform our adult lives. Jack regards childhood with reverence, looking back at Gerard’s innocence as nearing holy. Blending dream and reality its a lyrical and altogether sad book, that doesn't have any of the buzz and energy of some of his other works. It's difficult to say whether most of the scenes featuring his brother and other family members are actual memories from Jack's youth, but its still difficult not to be moved in some way. One of those many books that was good whilst reading it, but its not going to hang around in my mind for too long after. An out and out memoir would have been better.
November 26, 2015
The framework for this novel is the inevitable death of Kerouac's 9 year old, older brother, from an incurable sickness. Although the somber backdrop was a debbie-downer, the style was uplifting. This book is loaded with poetic prose, making it my favorite Kerouac work. It could have been labeled an epoch poem, but poetry doesn't sell, not like novels.Truman Capote said Kerouac's stuff wasn't writing, it was typing. But stick your finger anywhere in this book and read an excerpt and you will recognize that Kerouac wrote it. Do the same with Capote, and anyone could have written it. To develop such a distinctive style as Kerouac did in a field that has been so heavily plowed by so many ploughmen before is no easy task.
You see the deep respect Kerouac had for his mother, suffering so much during the ordeal she lost her teeth one by one, suffering as only a mother can suffer.
Kerouac near the end, at the funeral, writes, "I want to express somehow, 'Here and Now, I see the ecstasy,' the divine and perfect ecstasy..." For me, I don't want to see ecstasy when God's Kingdom Comes; I want to see no more 9 year olds helplessly dying.
You see the deep respect Kerouac had for his mother, suffering so much during the ordeal she lost her teeth one by one, suffering as only a mother can suffer.
Kerouac near the end, at the funeral, writes, "I want to express somehow, 'Here and Now, I see the ecstasy,' the divine and perfect ecstasy..." For me, I don't want to see ecstasy when God's Kingdom Comes; I want to see no more 9 year olds helplessly dying.
September 26, 2021
Τρυφερό και σιωπηλό σαν κοφτερό μαχαίρι. Ένα παζλ από θραύσματα αναμνήσεων και αφηγήσεων, με έναν Κέρουακ να κοιτάζει τον Τζακ από την άλλη πλευρά του καθρέφτη.
October 6, 2015
This beginning novel in the ongoing Duluoz Legend gives a decent glimpse into the brilliance Kerouac would later achieve, but the glimpse arrives unfashionably late.
There’s a style to the prose of Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) where he’s some sort of middle passage, some sort of vessel that is constantly taking and giving. His state of reverie is always emphasizing the prettiness of things, though they may be nothing more than pretty destroyed. This constant observation and absorption doesn’t leave much time to spend in a single place, a trait that serves Kerouac’s work well.
However, Visions of Gerard (Penguin Non-Classics, ISBN: 0140144528) suffers from the same traits that make some of Keroauc’s other work a success.
Capote’s Famous Quote
Most fans of Kerouac, or anyone who has taken even the tiniest look into beat-culture, have heard American author Truman Capote’s (1924-1984) quote about Kerouac’s work: That’s not writing, that’s typing.
Maybe Capote just read Visions of Gerard. To think that his comment about Kerouac merely typing instead of actually writing is directed towards the nomadic quest for beauty in On the Road or the pros and cons of indulgence as found in Big Sur is almost preposterous. Despite the triumph of Kerouac’s style in his other work, Visions of Gerard is flaccid and plodding, going nowhere and moving quickly.
A Strong Finish Comes Too Late
In Visions of Gerard, only need the last twenty (or thirty, to get in a scene or two with a living Gerard) pages are necessary to see what Kerouac was trying to accomplish in kicking off the Duluoz legend: the loss of maybe not a saint, but the idea of sainthood and how it would effect Jack Duluoz/Sal Paradise/Jack Kerouac in the years to come.
Aside from a few good lines here and there, the pages that precede the end are nearly worthless. Kerouac spends too much time in one place, spinning his faux-poetic prose into nothing much at all. The word-web of beauty that wasn’t.
Ol’ Jack tends to get boring and annoying in his struggle to type through the thoughts in his head. For the diehards, go ahead and read Visions of Gerard. It goes fast, and the last 20-30 pages are made of the sad wonder that only Kerouac can deliver.
When he starts writing through his thoughts instead of typing through them, he finally gives the reader an opportunity to see Gerard as the fallen angel he may have always been. Unfortunately, by the time Kerouac falls into his groove, the reader is already lost and uninterested, moving away from the same commonplace things that Kerouac rallies against in his other works.
There’s a style to the prose of Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) where he’s some sort of middle passage, some sort of vessel that is constantly taking and giving. His state of reverie is always emphasizing the prettiness of things, though they may be nothing more than pretty destroyed. This constant observation and absorption doesn’t leave much time to spend in a single place, a trait that serves Kerouac’s work well.
However, Visions of Gerard (Penguin Non-Classics, ISBN: 0140144528) suffers from the same traits that make some of Keroauc’s other work a success.
Capote’s Famous Quote
Most fans of Kerouac, or anyone who has taken even the tiniest look into beat-culture, have heard American author Truman Capote’s (1924-1984) quote about Kerouac’s work: That’s not writing, that’s typing.
Maybe Capote just read Visions of Gerard. To think that his comment about Kerouac merely typing instead of actually writing is directed towards the nomadic quest for beauty in On the Road or the pros and cons of indulgence as found in Big Sur is almost preposterous. Despite the triumph of Kerouac’s style in his other work, Visions of Gerard is flaccid and plodding, going nowhere and moving quickly.
A Strong Finish Comes Too Late
In Visions of Gerard, only need the last twenty (or thirty, to get in a scene or two with a living Gerard) pages are necessary to see what Kerouac was trying to accomplish in kicking off the Duluoz legend: the loss of maybe not a saint, but the idea of sainthood and how it would effect Jack Duluoz/Sal Paradise/Jack Kerouac in the years to come.
Aside from a few good lines here and there, the pages that precede the end are nearly worthless. Kerouac spends too much time in one place, spinning his faux-poetic prose into nothing much at all. The word-web of beauty that wasn’t.
Ol’ Jack tends to get boring and annoying in his struggle to type through the thoughts in his head. For the diehards, go ahead and read Visions of Gerard. It goes fast, and the last 20-30 pages are made of the sad wonder that only Kerouac can deliver.
When he starts writing through his thoughts instead of typing through them, he finally gives the reader an opportunity to see Gerard as the fallen angel he may have always been. Unfortunately, by the time Kerouac falls into his groove, the reader is already lost and uninterested, moving away from the same commonplace things that Kerouac rallies against in his other works.
May 25, 2021
Quite a different read from an 18-year old to my current 48-year old dad. Such a beautiful book from Jack Kerouac. I can only imagine how tough this was to write. Glad I picked up after all these years.
A perfect way to spend the day.
A perfect way to spend the day.
June 7, 2017
I read this at 17 or 18 in one full sitting while in the waiting room at mass general hospital while my grandmother was ailing. I had the day off from school- nothing to do, nowhere to go.
I plugged in, and was completely taken over by the story.
I've revisited it since then, but not even close to the same experience.
You know how that happens? A book will just come into your life, and BLAMMO--- you're all about it.
Then, it slowly fades away into memory....
UNTIL, of course, your Dad unearths it from your basement, the one in the house you grew up in, and plops it down in front of you unexpectedly. The smell of old New England must is all over it, and it brings you back to when you were young and growing up in the town next door from Ti Jean himself....a properly Proustian experience.
Even though I've left Jack behind as a reader, he'll always have a special place in my heart. Like an old, earnest, errant friend from highschool who still lives in the town you grew up in...
I plugged in, and was completely taken over by the story.
I've revisited it since then, but not even close to the same experience.
You know how that happens? A book will just come into your life, and BLAMMO--- you're all about it.
Then, it slowly fades away into memory....
UNTIL, of course, your Dad unearths it from your basement, the one in the house you grew up in, and plops it down in front of you unexpectedly. The smell of old New England must is all over it, and it brings you back to when you were young and growing up in the town next door from Ti Jean himself....a properly Proustian experience.
Even though I've left Jack behind as a reader, he'll always have a special place in my heart. Like an old, earnest, errant friend from highschool who still lives in the town you grew up in...
June 3, 2012
By far Kerouac's most vivid, heartbreaking, and creative book. It's the book where he had to do the most writing, the most composition, the most fabrication. Gerard died when he was four--all of these "visions" had to be generated, as opposed to most of his other work which is more creative memoir. This one actually purports to be a memoir, but couldn't be. After all, what do you remember about being four? Quote something you heard when you were four years old. Kerouac takes the diaphanous shades of his memory and tries to build from them. This is the book that should have shut Truman Capote up for good. Why it just considered his best work I don't know. Maybe because jazz has nothing to do with it.
January 18, 2023
Heartwarming but very, very sad.
If you ever feel like you're just a bit too happy, read this book. It is an ode to Karouac's dead brother who died very young.
It is written very densely and rhythmically, almost poetic, with passages that demand to be read slowly. The prose is truly beautiful, very tender. You can tell Kerouac wanted this to be perfect, as though he has written a Eulogy. Gerard, his brother, is an inspiring character, and I felt his families grief when I'd finished the book.
In the end, it is too sad a book to call "a good book", that would not convey what this book is at all. Instead I will say that this is a book worthy of respect, one that will humble you and maybe even make you appreciate life more.
If you ever feel like you're just a bit too happy, read this book. It is an ode to Karouac's dead brother who died very young.
It is written very densely and rhythmically, almost poetic, with passages that demand to be read slowly. The prose is truly beautiful, very tender. You can tell Kerouac wanted this to be perfect, as though he has written a Eulogy. Gerard, his brother, is an inspiring character, and I felt his families grief when I'd finished the book.
In the end, it is too sad a book to call "a good book", that would not convey what this book is at all. Instead I will say that this is a book worthy of respect, one that will humble you and maybe even make you appreciate life more.
July 31, 2023
Divine childly winds of time
December 10, 2023
i think by far one of the most painful books i've ever read, no matter how much kerouac tries to sweep you up into rhythm and life in all of its excess there is the horrible realisation at the center of it that all things - worst of all, even the best things - die. like the feeling of complete dread and despair dostoevsky had upon seeing holbein's dead christ, propelling him to write the idiot, who could ameliorate the suffering of absolutely no one due to his sickness. and not only do these holy people (whatever your definition of holy is) die, but when they do become eternally unreachable to you who was never quite as pure or good from the beginning, and so will likely never see them again.
— "Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life - The appearance of sweet Gerard's flower face, followed by its disappearance, alas, only a contour-maker and shadow-selector could prove it, that in all the perfect snow any such person or thing ever did arrive say Yea and go away - The whole world has no reality, it's only imaginary, and what are we to do? - Nothing - nothing - nothing. Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool."
— "Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life - The appearance of sweet Gerard's flower face, followed by its disappearance, alas, only a contour-maker and shadow-selector could prove it, that in all the perfect snow any such person or thing ever did arrive say Yea and go away - The whole world has no reality, it's only imaginary, and what are we to do? - Nothing - nothing - nothing. Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool."
March 5, 2024
Like other authors in the mid-20th century, Kerouac’s books were often published years after he had written them. On the Road, published in 1957, made him famous. Then his older stuff began to get accepted by publishers. Jack wrote Visions of Gerard in 1956 but it was not published until 1963.
Reading Kerouac, for me, is always like going through a portal to another world. His style is so intense, so unique to him, and his world is full of memories, struggles and dream states. I have come to see that all of his fiction is autobiographical. I have read enough of his books now to recognize his particular brand of stream-of-consciousness and to feel comfortable with it.
Gerard was his older brother, who died at nine years old when Jack was only four. It was a defining death for Jack who adored his brother. In looking back, he perceives Gerard as an almost supernatural being. I once read A Death in the Family by James Agee. Unbelievably it was published one year after Kerouac wrote Visions of Gerard. In both books, a man looks back at himself experiencing the death and funeral of a loved one from a child’s point of view.
As Jack observed the rituals of death among the adults, he made what he could of it. His writing is therefore somewhat unreliable as far as memories go but I found Visions of Gerard a testament to memory, love, and shattered innocence.
Reading Kerouac, for me, is always like going through a portal to another world. His style is so intense, so unique to him, and his world is full of memories, struggles and dream states. I have come to see that all of his fiction is autobiographical. I have read enough of his books now to recognize his particular brand of stream-of-consciousness and to feel comfortable with it.
Gerard was his older brother, who died at nine years old when Jack was only four. It was a defining death for Jack who adored his brother. In looking back, he perceives Gerard as an almost supernatural being. I once read A Death in the Family by James Agee. Unbelievably it was published one year after Kerouac wrote Visions of Gerard. In both books, a man looks back at himself experiencing the death and funeral of a loved one from a child’s point of view.
As Jack observed the rituals of death among the adults, he made what he could of it. His writing is therefore somewhat unreliable as far as memories go but I found Visions of Gerard a testament to memory, love, and shattered innocence.
January 25, 2019
This is Jack Kerouac's most personal work, and my favorite book of him with On The Road and The Dharma Bums. I love the way he describes his big brother Gerard, who passed away too soon. He seemed full of life and energy and reading this book made me understand why Kerouac turned to writing.
"Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life - The appearance of sweet Gerard's flower face, followed by its disappearance, alas, only a contour-maker and shadow-selector could prove it, that in all the perfect snow any such person or thing ever did arrive say Yea and go away - The whole world has no reality, it's only imaginary, and what are we to do ? Nothing - nothing - nothing. Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool."
"Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life - The appearance of sweet Gerard's flower face, followed by its disappearance, alas, only a contour-maker and shadow-selector could prove it, that in all the perfect snow any such person or thing ever did arrive say Yea and go away - The whole world has no reality, it's only imaginary, and what are we to do ? Nothing - nothing - nothing. Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool."
June 19, 2019
A childhood in the 1920s, a saintly hero brother who disappears too soon, Catholic dreams in a Massachusetts winter, survivor guilt and a family struggling with mourning.
There’s a different kind of Kerouac energy here; introspective, spiritual, angelic and natural. The ghosts of the great wanderers float through these words - William Blake and Walt Whitman, with the touch and feel of sad autumn leaves. There’s that strange melancholy of a dying season, disappearing like smoke from a slow burn bonfire. A haunting and beautiful small book, about the biggest of subjects.
There’s a different kind of Kerouac energy here; introspective, spiritual, angelic and natural. The ghosts of the great wanderers float through these words - William Blake and Walt Whitman, with the touch and feel of sad autumn leaves. There’s that strange melancholy of a dying season, disappearing like smoke from a slow burn bonfire. A haunting and beautiful small book, about the biggest of subjects.
September 13, 2012
Jack's best book.
the most lyrical yet at once the most restrained.
high sentiment value. if you have no heart, you would still be on the road you dharma bum.
the most lyrical yet at once the most restrained.
high sentiment value. if you have no heart, you would still be on the road you dharma bum.
August 27, 2017
Read in Kerouac: Visions of Cody, Visions of Gerard, Big Sur.
This is a story about childhood and brothers. Jack Kerouac wrote this book about his older brother, Gerard, who died at the young age of nine. Jack clearly adored his brother, with Gerard pictured as a happy older brother who was wise beyond his years. It's a heartbreaking story of grief and coping with death and existence.
I enjoyed this work by Kerouac more than some of his other writings. Though the subject matter was different than other books he wrote, the writing style is clearly Kerouac.
From Visions of Gerard:
And I wonder what Gerard would have done had he lived, sickly, artistic - But by my good Jesus, with that holy face they'd have stumbled over one another to come and give him bread and breath - He left me his heart but not his tender countenance and sorrowful patience and kindly lights -
"Me when I'm big, I'm gonna be a painter of beautiful pictures and I'm gonna build beautiful bridges" - He never lived to come and face the humble problem, but he would have done it with the noblesse tendresse I never in my bones and dead man heart could ever show.
This is a story about childhood and brothers. Jack Kerouac wrote this book about his older brother, Gerard, who died at the young age of nine. Jack clearly adored his brother, with Gerard pictured as a happy older brother who was wise beyond his years. It's a heartbreaking story of grief and coping with death and existence.
I enjoyed this work by Kerouac more than some of his other writings. Though the subject matter was different than other books he wrote, the writing style is clearly Kerouac.
From Visions of Gerard:
And I wonder what Gerard would have done had he lived, sickly, artistic - But by my good Jesus, with that holy face they'd have stumbled over one another to come and give him bread and breath - He left me his heart but not his tender countenance and sorrowful patience and kindly lights -
"Me when I'm big, I'm gonna be a painter of beautiful pictures and I'm gonna build beautiful bridges" - He never lived to come and face the humble problem, but he would have done it with the noblesse tendresse I never in my bones and dead man heart could ever show.
February 17, 2025
I discovered very late into my reading this that the best way to engage with this book is to read it aloud to oneself. The book reads more like poetry than it does traditional fiction.
The overall narrative was somewhat hard to follow and there were entire paragraphs where I was entirely lost. Again, I think reading a primer on this book would have helped.
With that being said, Kerouac will occasionally whip out a spiritually imbued passage that hypnotizes or profoundly touches its reader. Bravo for that.
A passage I quite liked:
“Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life - The appearance of sweet Gerard's flower face, followed by its disappearance, alas, only a contour-maker and shadow-selector could prove it, that in all the perfect snow any such person or thing ever did arrive say Yea and go away - The whole world has no reality, it's only imaginary, and what are we to do? - Nothing - nothing - nothing.
Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool.” pg 80
I divided the one paragraph because I think each part also reads well independently of the other.
The overall narrative was somewhat hard to follow and there were entire paragraphs where I was entirely lost. Again, I think reading a primer on this book would have helped.
With that being said, Kerouac will occasionally whip out a spiritually imbued passage that hypnotizes or profoundly touches its reader. Bravo for that.
A passage I quite liked:
“Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life - The appearance of sweet Gerard's flower face, followed by its disappearance, alas, only a contour-maker and shadow-selector could prove it, that in all the perfect snow any such person or thing ever did arrive say Yea and go away - The whole world has no reality, it's only imaginary, and what are we to do? - Nothing - nothing - nothing.
Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool.” pg 80
I divided the one paragraph because I think each part also reads well independently of the other.
December 31, 2024
Jack Kerouac nähert sich irgendwo zwischen buddhistischer Weltsicht und katholischen Wurzeln seinem im Kindesalter verstorbenen Bruder und lässt ihn in seiner Erinnerung als gebrochenen Heiligen wieder aufleben. 100 Seiten Meditation über die Endlichkeit allen Seins. Besonders schmerzlich zu lesen, da man auf jeder Seite das Gefühl hat, wie Kerouacs Herz einfach zu groß war für diese Welt. Als er es nicht mehr halten konnte hat er sich tot gesoffen.
May 28, 2025
çok dağınık, izlemesi zor metindi, Kerouac olduğu için sonuna kadar dayandım...
June 28, 2023
Garrett has a new favorite non-poetry book (and thank goodness, I can finally stop calling Gatsby my favorite)!
This is the best of Kerouac’s work that I have read so far. Kerouac has a reputation for being this free flowing guy who doesn’t really care about anything, bums around, etc. (which he certainly was to a degree), but if you read this book you can understand why and who he really was.
This book sees Kerouac meditating on the death of his older brother, who was nine at the time of his death (Jack only three). He wrestles with the inevitability of death, the importance of death, and the consequence of life. For me, this is easily his most emotional, thought out, existential, spiritual, and vulnerable work of his that I’ve read.
As I’ve been personally thinking about death a lot in my own life, it felt very comforting to read this. How terrifyingly beautiful that death is a promise.
My favorite thing about this book (as with most of Kerouac’s work, but especially this one) is how excitedly and engagingly he writes. His style just captures me and it’s so unique. What I like particularly about this book is that he keeps that style while still talking about incredibly hard and incomprehensible events. And of course, he drops little nuggets of wisdom throughout:
“To awaken to pure faith in the bright one truth: All is Well, practice Kindness, Heaven is Nigh.”
“Sin’s so deeply ingrained in us we invent them where they aint and ignore them where they are.”
“It might be pepper for a cold feast, but I always did say that the fact that men are, is more interesting than anything they might do…”
“The whole world has no reality, it’s only imaginary, and what are we to do?—Nothing—nothing—nothing. Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin.”
I love Kerouac, I love this book, and I think everyone should read it.
This is the best of Kerouac’s work that I have read so far. Kerouac has a reputation for being this free flowing guy who doesn’t really care about anything, bums around, etc. (which he certainly was to a degree), but if you read this book you can understand why and who he really was.
This book sees Kerouac meditating on the death of his older brother, who was nine at the time of his death (Jack only three). He wrestles with the inevitability of death, the importance of death, and the consequence of life. For me, this is easily his most emotional, thought out, existential, spiritual, and vulnerable work of his that I’ve read.
As I’ve been personally thinking about death a lot in my own life, it felt very comforting to read this. How terrifyingly beautiful that death is a promise.
My favorite thing about this book (as with most of Kerouac’s work, but especially this one) is how excitedly and engagingly he writes. His style just captures me and it’s so unique. What I like particularly about this book is that he keeps that style while still talking about incredibly hard and incomprehensible events. And of course, he drops little nuggets of wisdom throughout:
“To awaken to pure faith in the bright one truth: All is Well, practice Kindness, Heaven is Nigh.”
“Sin’s so deeply ingrained in us we invent them where they aint and ignore them where they are.”
“It might be pepper for a cold feast, but I always did say that the fact that men are, is more interesting than anything they might do…”
“The whole world has no reality, it’s only imaginary, and what are we to do?—Nothing—nothing—nothing. Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin.”
I love Kerouac, I love this book, and I think everyone should read it.
October 11, 2012
I'll apologize beforehand--this is kind of a rambly, not very good review.
I really liked this book. It's my first Kerouac book. During the first half of Visions of Gerard I tried to quit reading it. I wondered why I was reading it and what I would get out of it. It was hard to read and a little depressing. But, I couldn't leave it. I think there was the idea of needing to know how the story ended. I think I also wanted to finish the book for finishing's sake. But , then there was the appeal of Kerouac's writing style. I'm not sure what it would be called--beat, stream of consciousness or something else. It added to the emotion of the book as his long sentences would aid in building up the anxiety of the situations in the story.
As a Christian, I found the book sad, because I believe that God allows bad things to happen for our good, not to punish us. Sometimes when bad things happen, we feel like God doesn't care about us. We may feel hopeless. Some of the characters in the book seemed to succumb to the hopeless feelings. It seemed to me that the point of view that the story is told from (Jack's 4 yr old character) was somewhat helpful in reading it. The innocence of Ti Jean seemed to add hope since he failed to understand the difficulty and the pain of what was happening around him. He admired his older, sickly brother and knew that Gerard's death was an end of his suffering.
I really liked this book. It's my first Kerouac book. During the first half of Visions of Gerard I tried to quit reading it. I wondered why I was reading it and what I would get out of it. It was hard to read and a little depressing. But, I couldn't leave it. I think there was the idea of needing to know how the story ended. I think I also wanted to finish the book for finishing's sake. But , then there was the appeal of Kerouac's writing style. I'm not sure what it would be called--beat, stream of consciousness or something else. It added to the emotion of the book as his long sentences would aid in building up the anxiety of the situations in the story.
As a Christian, I found the book sad, because I believe that God allows bad things to happen for our good, not to punish us. Sometimes when bad things happen, we feel like God doesn't care about us. We may feel hopeless. Some of the characters in the book seemed to succumb to the hopeless feelings. It seemed to me that the point of view that the story is told from (Jack's 4 yr old character) was somewhat helpful in reading it. The innocence of Ti Jean seemed to add hope since he failed to understand the difficulty and the pain of what was happening around him. He admired his older, sickly brother and knew that Gerard's death was an end of his suffering.
August 1, 2021
This was my first taste of any of Kerouac’s work and I’m glad I chose this one. I love the almost stream-of-consciousness writing style. It kinda reminds me of my own, and this book really inspired me. I took note of some of my favourite lines:
“Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life-“
“Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool.”
“... for the Earth’s an intrinsic grave (just dig a hole and see)”
“The whole universe was one great Womb.”
“But you bumbling fool you’re a mass of sin, a veritable barrel of it, you swish and awash in it like molasses. You ooze mistakes through your frail crevasses!”
I adored the religious symbolism and the way Kerouac constantly likened Gerard to holy and saintly imagery.
The last line in particular made me gasp and made me tearful, somehow: “I look again, the men have stepped a pace aback, expectant, old gravedigger picks up his shovel and closes the book.” I just love that metaphor.
I think I get why everyone loves this guy.
“Bless my soul, death is the only decent subject, since it marks the end of illusion and delusion - Death is the other side of the same coin, we call now, Life-“
“Pray to be kind, wait to be patient, try to be fine. No use screamin. The Devil was a charming fool.”
“... for the Earth’s an intrinsic grave (just dig a hole and see)”
“The whole universe was one great Womb.”
“But you bumbling fool you’re a mass of sin, a veritable barrel of it, you swish and awash in it like molasses. You ooze mistakes through your frail crevasses!”
I adored the religious symbolism and the way Kerouac constantly likened Gerard to holy and saintly imagery.
The last line in particular made me gasp and made me tearful, somehow: “I look again, the men have stepped a pace aback, expectant, old gravedigger picks up his shovel and closes the book.” I just love that metaphor.
I think I get why everyone loves this guy.
July 5, 2013
3.5 stars
The first installation of Jack Kerouac’s “Duluoz Legend” offers a brief glimpse into the short life of his older brother, Gerard, whose death at age nine was a deep loss to Jack.
Jack viewed Gerard as a saint, and writes from that perspective throughout while he tries to cope with death, life, existence, meaning, etc, maintaining that what Gerard taught him can also be accessed through the passed-down wisdom from the past.
It’s got the expected Kerouackian flourishes, although it mainly displays young childhood rather than the freewheeling characters from his later oeuvre. Much of the book is touching, which I think is an overlooked aspect of Kerouac’s writing.
I plan on reading through the “Duluoz Legend” books in order, even though I’ve read a number of them already.
The first installation of Jack Kerouac’s “Duluoz Legend” offers a brief glimpse into the short life of his older brother, Gerard, whose death at age nine was a deep loss to Jack.
Jack viewed Gerard as a saint, and writes from that perspective throughout while he tries to cope with death, life, existence, meaning, etc, maintaining that what Gerard taught him can also be accessed through the passed-down wisdom from the past.
It’s got the expected Kerouackian flourishes, although it mainly displays young childhood rather than the freewheeling characters from his later oeuvre. Much of the book is touching, which I think is an overlooked aspect of Kerouac’s writing.
I plan on reading through the “Duluoz Legend” books in order, even though I’ve read a number of them already.
April 5, 2010
This book made me cry. Another one of my favorites.
July 7, 2011
Best read if you are a decently fast reader. It is stream of consciousness done supremely well, but if you stop to dwell it can leave you bewildered. I'm beginning to like Kerouac more and more.
October 27, 2012
Tragically beautiful. Helped me better understand my French-Canadian heritage.
August 5, 2022
Kerouac's perspectives and recollections on death of his brother Gerard, who died in 1926 when Gerard was nine, and Jack was only four. Beautiful, but disconcerting. One of Kerouac's best works.
January 12, 2015
Kerouac's tragically beautiful tribute to young death - to souls departed too soon from this unforgiving world - Visions of Gerard offers a glimpse into the sadness existing behind Kerouac's words.
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