My Days With Albert Schweitzer: A Lambarene Landscape

by Frederick Franck

Book by Franck, Frederick

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Angie Braegger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intersting book. I had heard of albert schweitzer, but didn't know a lot about him or his life's work. I liked learning about his work in Africa. Good role model of selfless service.

[Ad Pluijmers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the 1961 Dutch translation of “Days with Albert Schweitzer”, titled “Het Landschap van Lambarene”.

In 1913 German Albert Schweitzer started a hospital in Lambarene (Gabon, Africa) and worked there on and off for over 50 years. In 1959 dentist and artist Frederick Franck, who was actually born in The Netherlands before emigrating to the USA, stays for a couple of months at this Albert Schweitzer hospital as a volunteer. He performs many useful dental procedures. He closely observes the ongoings in the hospital and the nearby villages (including the leper community) and describes it all in this book. The book also contains many of his expressionist drawings of patients, personnel and surroundings. It is not a great literary work, but pleasant to read; his story is very interesting and it gives good account of the extremely useful work that Albert Schweitzer performs with his staff under not always easy conditions.

In the late 1980’s, when working in Gabon, I visited Lambarene twice. One time as member of a choir, based in Port-Gentil; we performed at the site of the hospital. Although the old hospital was not in use anymore, many parts could still be visited as a museum. Much of the old furniture and equipment was still present – it resembled closely the drawings of this book! The cemetery still had many simple crosses, one of them being for Albert Schweitzer, who died 90 years old, in 1965.
A great man indeed!

[Bruce Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Days with Albert Schweitzer, a Lambarene Landscape, by Frederick Franck (1959, 195pp). This is a sweet, admiring but not obsequious look at Albert Schweitzer and his hospital and patients in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). The book is about the author and his extended visit to Schweitzer’s hospital, but it naturally includes many observations about the famous doctor. Franck, a dentist and artist, who months at Lambaréné practicing dentistry and sketching when not working with patients. While the author was clearly in awe of Schweitzer, he was quite open about the many valid criticisms of Schweitzer’s hospital, the man himself, and the whole post-colonial medical enterprise. Regardless of human and organizational flaws, he recognized Schweitzer for the extremely gifted man that he was, and admiring of someone who devoted decades of his life providing medical care for mostly indigent patients. Very enjoyable, including the many illustrative sketches.

[John P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often, unfortunately, some of the stories about people who have made notable contributions to the welfare or wellbeing of others can be diminished by authors whose own compelling interest intrudes upon a truthful and honest dissertation. This diminishment was in no way caused by or the consequence of Frederick Franck’s beautifully illustrated and deftly written book on the life and contributions of Albert Schweitzer. Frack’s book is unalloyed by excesses of over-enthusiastic praise or personal exaggerations. Yet his beautiful succinct writing, the book is a jewel of writing that illustrates what were the human dimensions of the wonderful mission- motivated Doctor of Lambarene in Gabon.