Visions of Gerard.

KEROUAC, Jack.

$200.00

Item Number: 131677

New York: Farrar, Staus and Company, 1963.

First edition of this classic Beat novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Illustrated with drawings by James Spanfeller.

Visions of Gerard is a novel by Beat writer Jack Kerouac. Written in the first two weeks of 1956, while staying with his sister Caroline in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Kerouac's novel would not be published until 1963. It is the first volume in Kerouac's "Duluoz Legend". Unique among Kerouac's novels, Visions of Gerard focuses on the scenes and sensations of childhood as evidenced in the tragically short yet happy life of his older brother, Gerard. Kerouac paints a picture of the boy as a saint, who loves all creatures and teaches this doctrine to four-year-old Jack. Set in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, it is a beautiful but unsettling exploration of the meaning and precariousness of existence. It inspired the title of Bob Dylan's song "Visions of Johanna" from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.