Jack Kerouac is generally considered the father of the Beat movement, along with William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. His 1957 novel On the Road made him an icon, and was hailed as "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is." by the New York Times.

Lois Sorrells Beckwith married actor Robert Sorrells in California, 1955. They separated after a year, and she returned to Northport, where she met Jack Kerouac in 1958 and became Kerouac's poet girlfriend there from 1959-62. Four of her poems were published in the bilingual Beat anthology Poesia degli ultimi americani (1964), edited by Fernanda Pivano. She had a relationship with Lucien Carr from 1962-64, before marrying the artist Jacques Beckwith in 1964. The character “Louise” in Big Sur (1963) is modeled after Beckwith.

Kerouac's novel Visions of Gerardwas written in the first two weeks of 1956. It would not see publication until 1963, and is based in part on his older brother Gerard, who died of rheumatic fever in 1926 at nine years of age.

Framed note, matted, with a black and white photo of Kerouac holding a cat. Frame measures w 13.25 in. x h 24.75 in. with white background and engraved black placard reading 'Jack Kerouac' below note. Note torn from a notepad, with spiral perforations on the top edge, measuring 9 in. x 6 in. The note reads, in Kerouac's hand: "Dear Lois - See you Friday - Got your beautiful letter about Gerard - We've got to go be quiet. Jack XXX" There is a pencil drawing of a mountain or leaf outline above his signature. JH Consignment. Shelved in Dupont.