Visions of GerardA 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