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  • Published: 2 July 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241389010
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $22.99

Visions of Gerard




A devastating semi-autobiographical novel and the first volume of Kerouac's memoir cycle

Gerard Duluoz was born in 1917, 'a sickly little kid with a rheumatic heart'. Based on Jack Kerouac's memories of the beloved older brother who died when he was a boy, Visions of Gerard is unique among his novels for its dreamlike evocation of the sensations of childhood - wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, joy and pain. Described by Kerouac as 'my most serious sad and true book', it forms the first volume of his memoir cycle The Duluoz Legend, and is a haunting exploration of the precariousness of life.

'Called a "pain-tale" by Kerouac, it's the story of an almost divine, Buddha-like child racked with sickness and suffering' Guardian

  • Published: 2 July 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241389010
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922. In 1947, enthused by bebop, the rebel attitude of his friend Neal Cassidy, and the throng of hobos, drug addicts and hustlers he encountered in New York, he decided to discover America and hitchhhike across the country. His writing was openly autobiographical and he developed a style he referred to as 'spontaneous prose' which he used to record the experiences of the Beat Generation. Among his many novels are On the Road, Maggie Cassidy, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums and Big Sur. He died in 1969.

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Praise for Visions of Gerard

My best most serious sad and true book yet.

Jack Kerouac
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