Books by Werner Herzog

A poetic meditation on life and death, by one of the most renowned and respected film-makers and intellectuals of our time. It is a remarkable narrative - part pilgrimage, part meditation, and a confrontation between a great German Romantic imagination and the contemporary world.

Werner Herzog has produced, written, and directed more than seventy films, including Nosferatu the Vampyre; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Fitzcarraldo; and Grizzly Man. He grew up in a remote mountain village in Bavaria and now lives in Los Angeles, California. His books Of Walking in Ice and Scenarios I and II are also published by Minnesota. ¿ Krishna Winston is Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature at Wesleyan University. ¿

The second in a series: the master filmmaker’s prose scenarios for four of his notable filmsOn the first day of editing Fata Morgana, Werner Herzog recalls, his editor said: “With this kind of material we have to pretend to invent cinema.” And this, Herzog says, is what he tries to do every day. In this second volume of his scenarios, the peerless filmmaker’s genius for invention is on clear display. Written in Herzog’s signature fashion—more prose poem than screenplay, transcribing the vision unfolding before him as if in a dream—the four scenarios here (three never before translated into English) reveal an iconoclastic craftsman at the height of his powers.Along with his template for the film poem Fata Morgana (1971), this volume includes the scenarios for Herzog’s first two feature films, Signs of Life (1968) and Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970), along with the hypnotic Heart of Glass (1976). In a brief introduction, Herzog describes the circumstances surrounding each scenario, inviting readers into the mysterious process whereby one man’s vision becomes every viewer’s waking dream.

Et opkald fra Paris, november 1974: Lotte Eisner, den store filmhistoriker, ligger alvorligt syg i Paris. Werner Herzog bryder op fra München og begiver sig af sted, alene, med en rygsæk, et kompas og en notesbog. Han har indgået en slags pagt med sig selv: Hvis han kan gå den 800 kilometer lange tur til Paris, vil ’Eisnerinden’ overleve. Det er hundekoldt, sneen ligger i dynger, Herzog må overnatte i lader og sommerhuse, som han bryder ind i. Flere gange undervejs er han ved at give op, han plages af tørst, smertende ben, betændte akillessener, storm og regn, meningsløsheden … Men kroppen går videre. OM AT GÅ I IS er en usædvanlig og hypnotiserende lille bog om livet og døden og den viden der kommer fra kroppen. En bog om et landskab og de mennesker der bebor det, og ikke mindst om forfatterens egne indre landskaber. En film skabt med ord, en litterær klassiker.