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