Jack Kerouac, Visions of Gerard

R. J. Ellis (University of Birmingham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1963

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

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Visions of Gerard

is a representation of the illness and death of a young boy, Gerard, in 1920s Lowell, viewed through the eyes of his younger brother, Ti Jean. Ti Jean narrates his memories as an adult, looking back from the 1950s. Ti Jean emphasizes the saintliness of Gerard, made manifest in a vision Gerard has at school of his ascension to heaven, just before his terminal decline sets in. Gerard also has a rapport with animals and birds, berating his cat over the killing of a mouse and attracting a flock of birds to his bedroom window when a bed-ridden invalid. This reputation for beatitude leads the nuns who taught him at school to be present at his death-bed and record his final words. His saintliness is underlined when, immediately after his death, “the flock of birds … phebes…

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660 words

Citation: Ellis, R. J.. "Visions of Gerard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8635, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Jack Kerouac, Visions of Gerard

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