And I, Francis: The Life Of Francis Of Assisi In Word And Image

The Story

Many artists -- literary as well as visual -- have considered the life of Francis of Assisi, but none until now has presented Francis himself from a first-person perspective.Prompted by the question of what it would have been like to be Francis, Kathleen Fruge-Brown chose seven scenes from Francis's life: giving alms to the leper, the renunciation of material possessions, cutting Clare's hair, building a snow-family, receiving the stigmata, his death, and 'The Praises of the Creatures'. A common viewpoint unites the seven images: in each, the viewer sees the scene as if through Francis's eyes.The accompanying text -- one chapter per image -- is also from a first-person perspective, with a voice that conveys as much about the man as do the stories he tells. Francis is revealed as an intelligent, original, and decisive man who seems never to have been at a loss for words. His writing is characterized by exuberance, simple vocabulary, and by an immediacy and urgency combined with profound gentleness. This is the Francis of Lauren Glen Dunlap's text, as he emerges from the fog of canonization and legend. The book has reproductions of seven full-color paintings and seven linoleum block prints as well as short pieces from the scant body of Francis's writing.