Visions of Gerard - Jack Kerouac - Lowell, MA
N 42° 39.645 W 071° 18.950
19T E 310201 N 4725742
Jack Kerouac's 8th book, chronologically the 1st in the autobiographical narrative cycle called "The Legend of Duluoz,". "My best most serious sad and true book yet." —Jack Kerouac
Waymark Code: WM1XJ5
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2007
Views: 129
Unique among Jack Kerouac's novels,
"Visions of Gerard" focuses on the scenes and sensations of childhood—the wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, evil, insight, suffering, delight, and shock—as they were revealed in the short tragic-happy life of his saintly brother, Gerard.
Set in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, it is an unsettling, beautiful, and sad exploration of the meaning and precariousness of existence.
"His life . . . ended when he was nine and the nuns of St. Louis de France Parochial School were at his bedside to take down his dying words becase they'd heard his astonishing revelations of heaven delivered in catechism on no more encouragement than it was his turn to speak. . . ."