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70th out of 135 books
—
41 voters
Of Walking in Ice: Munich-Paris, 11/23 to 12/14, 1974
In the winter of 1974, filmmaker Werner Herzog made a three week solo journey from Munich to Paris on foot to visit his ailing friend, film critic and historian Lotte Eisner. During this monumental odyssey through a seemingly endless blizzard, Herzog documented everything he saw and felt with intense sincerity. This diary is dotted with rants about the extreme cold and utt...more
68 pages
Published
(first published January 1st 1988)
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Herzog as buffalo making landscapes tremble, Herzog as mountain reposing, Herzog as natural visionary, Herzog as compassionate magician and au natural hallucinator in bars.
Keyed up by intense concern for Lotte Eisner as she lay very ill in Paris, Herzog set off on foot from Munich to Paris to fend off her death. She could not die before he arrived, the voices of the universe told him so. Through blizzards and driving rain, smashing windows of vacation homes for sleep, ceaselessly mutating from h...more
Keyed up by intense concern for Lotte Eisner as she lay very ill in Paris, Herzog set off on foot from Munich to Paris to fend off her death. She could not die before he arrived, the voices of the universe told him so. Through blizzards and driving rain, smashing windows of vacation homes for sleep, ceaselessly mutating from h...more
"All I see in front of me is route. Suddenly, near the crest of a hill, I thought, there is a horseman, but when I moved closer it was a tree; then I saw a sheep and was uncertain as to whether or not it would turn out to be a bush, but it was a sheep, on the verge of dying. It died still and pathetically; I've never seen a sheep die before. I marched very swiftly on."
In November 1974, Werner Herzog received word of the imminent death of film critic Lotte Eisner (who provided voice over on his h...more
In November 1974, Werner Herzog received word of the imminent death of film critic Lotte Eisner (who provided voice over on his h...more
2 likes · like · see review
Finished this while walking and reading at lunch along the Delaware, and walking up the steps to the South Street bridge over I-95, I exclaimed "fcknin WERNER"! So proud of him, like he were my child. What a great book. It's sort of like a pre-apocalyptic, very Germanic version of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" . . . 64 dense pages of travelogue, fantasy, film ideas, atmosphere, all of it deeply embedded in the consciousness of the Typical Herzog Character, a mythic hero-dude on a solo delusional...more
3 likes · like · see review
AS a big fan of Herzog movies I looked forward to getting this through the Umass library system, and was not disappointed. Originally written as a personal journal, Werner later decided to publish it. A journal he kept,when he was walking from Munich to Paris, after he heard a friend, Lotte Eisner was ill and dying, thinking the walk would save her life. Breaking into houses, bad weather, helpful comrades, and dying sheep, how can you go wrong. If one is familiar with his movies, it will be a mu...more
Thank God I didn’t buy this one:
Author: Werner Herzog
Title: Of walking in ice
Time: 1974
Destination:
Munich to Paris
Length: 26 days
Type: walking
Rating: 1/10
Mournful burglar (stick to thy last)
First things first: WH is a director of New German Cinema and a very good photographer – if you happen to get your hands on a book with his photographic works, make sure to check it out. Another thing about WH that I find remarkable is how he ate one of his shoes once. I guess it’s not so much about the eatin...more
Author: Werner Herzog
Title: Of walking in ice
Time: 1974
Destination:
Munich to Paris
Length: 26 days
Type: walking
Rating: 1/10
Mournful burglar (stick to thy last)
First things first: WH is a director of New German Cinema and a very good photographer – if you happen to get your hands on a book with his photographic works, make sure to check it out. Another thing about WH that I find remarkable is how he ate one of his shoes once. I guess it’s not so much about the eatin...more
2 likes · like · see review
In November 1974, film director Werner Herzog learned that a friend of his, Lotte Eisner, was on her deathbed. Eisner, a concentration camp survivor, was a legendary German film critic who had worked with Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinemateque Francaise. Herzog avowed that "This must not be, not at this time; German cinema could not do without her now." He somehow became convinced that if he walked from Munich to Paris—about 500 miles—to visit her, she would be saved.
And so he decided to mak...more
And so he decided to mak...more
This book is exhilarating. I wish there were more 64-page books on the world packed as densely as this. Composed as a journal written over a week while walking from Munich to Paris, convinced that an ailing friend will hang til he gets there, Of Walking in Ice does not seek to make a grand statement; instead it is an act of contrition, one in which bears witness to the unending flow of statements the world makes rather than making his own.
The narrative flits from one thing to the next just with...more
The narrative flits from one thing to the next just with...more
Dream-like, poetic description of events or scenes from imaginary films intermixed with diary notes from his journey - observations on passing nature, landscapes, weather conditions, people, the strain on his body, the daily problem of finding somewhere to sleep...
Overall a gorgeous little book and inspirational. Planted a seed of an idea in my mind for my own walk.
My only criticism was the eye-watering price for what is only a 68-page book. The most expensive book I've ever bought... but one th...more
Overall a gorgeous little book and inspirational. Planted a seed of an idea in my mind for my own walk.
My only criticism was the eye-watering price for what is only a 68-page book. The most expensive book I've ever bought... but one th...more
Um relato impressionante sobre uma caminhada que é possível porque o pensamento pode voar. No caminho sem amparo, vemo-nos despidos dos elementos com que disfarçamos a condição essencial da vida: não sabemos o que pode acontecer e facilmente ficamos indefesos perante as adversidades. E qual a melhor forma de enfrentar o medo? Vivendo nessa condição básica. E uma das formas de o fazer é viajando e caminhando. O narrador decide empreender uma viagem a pé em pleno inverno no centro norte da Europa,...more
Herzog's first-hand account of that one time he walked from Munich to Paris in the middle of winter to save critic Lotte Eisner's life is, of course, entirely about the journey into himself (the supposed subject of his rescue is only mentioned occasionally), but of course that's a genre Herzog knows. And while he's not quite as good with prose as he is with a camera, this short little volume is an intriguing read - Herzog walks, drinks milk, walks, freezes his ass off, walks, breaks into abandon...more
FUCK!
Apr 13, 2011
nathan
added it
If you haven't yet formed an opinion of Herzog, allow the Forward of this book to assist you:
At the end of November, 1974, a friend from Paris called and told me that Lotte Eisner was seriously ill and would probably die. I said that this must not be, not at this time, German cinema could not do without her now, we would not permit her death. I took a jacket, a compass and a duffel bag with the necessities. My boots were so solid and new that I had confidence in them. I set off on the most direc...more
At the end of November, 1974, a friend from Paris called and told me that Lotte Eisner was seriously ill and would probably die. I said that this must not be, not at this time, German cinema could not do without her now, we would not permit her death. I took a jacket, a compass and a duffel bag with the necessities. My boots were so solid and new that I had confidence in them. I set off on the most direc...more
If a friend or family member said to you that they were planning on walking from Munich to Paris in the middle of a bitter winter because they knew that this was what needed to be done in order to save the life of someone they cared about, most likely you'd have the same reaction as me - are you fucking crazy?
But that's because you aren't Werner Herzog who possesses a kind of clarity that most of us can't even imagine. A kind of clarity that brings about a complete sense of awe in me because it...more
But that's because you aren't Werner Herzog who possesses a kind of clarity that most of us can't even imagine. A kind of clarity that brings about a complete sense of awe in me because it...more
4 likes · like · see review
Aug 18, 2010
matthew
added it
good like his movies!! herzog actually inspired me to attempt to make a 400km journey on foot. i failed, i only managed four days but whatever. reading this makes me understand. he didn't have a backpack. i had a huge backpack. if i were in the middle of europe where there are closer together towns and i had the balls to break into places i would have totally succeeded. but yes. it's werner herzog, so of course he managed to do it. he can do anything
This is a rambling and partially incoherent accounting of a very strange endeavor that Herzog undertook - that had nothing to do with film making, in any other sense than his devotion to his heroes of cinema. Strange and fraught factor is very high.
Its a diary of him walking from munich to paris in an effort - however strange - to prevent the death of a film maker that he is deeply devoted to. With a premise and lived experience like that what does it matter if it's coherent? Fantastic book. Sm...more
Its a diary of him walking from munich to paris in an effort - however strange - to prevent the death of a film maker that he is deeply devoted to. With a premise and lived experience like that what does it matter if it's coherent? Fantastic book. Sm...more
Werner Herzog is a peculiar man with an abstract view of the world that surrounds him. I was recommended this book after sharing Herzog's witty interpretations of classic childhood stories (check them out: Madeline, Curious George, and Where's Waldo) with a friend. "Of Walking in Ice" is an intimate documentation by Herzog as he embarks on foot from Munich to Paris with the prospect of stalling a dear friend's death. What begins as a somber and ambitious journey quickly blossoms into an anomalou...more
Sep 19, 2007
Jon
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who liked "Incident at Loch Ness" just because Werner Herzog was in it
I am a huge Werner Herzog fan and he has always talked this book up saying that he thinks it is as great a piece of work as any of his films, etc. There was a huge build up to it so maybe it was inevitable that it was a little bit disappointing. And maybe it was partly the translation to english but this just seemed so convoluted. Tangents everywhere that often don't even get "resolved." So choppy even within the journal entries. I didn't really gain anything from reading this book and even thou...more
"During the worst snowstorm on the Swabian Alb, I encountered a provisional enclosure for sheep, the sheep freezing and confused, looking at me and cuddling against me as if I could offer a solution, The Solution. I've never seen such expressions of trust as I found on the faces of those sheep in the snow."
Werner Herzog decided to do this journey when he found out that a friend was diagnosed with cancer. This book is the journal of this walk. It´s a mix of his memories, the memories of the characters of his movies, the characters themselves and interesting observations. A very short book but not quite easy to read.
This is a great book for young artists. It's a journey not just across a physical landscape but into the mind and soul of the writer, who happens to be one of the towering figures in world cinema. Strange, elliptical, quasi-shamanic ramblings and pictorials.
Brief, interesting diary of a walk Herzog made from Munich to Paris in the winter of 1974 because he thought it would help an ailing German filmmaker survive. There are some great insights and observations, but my favorite part is probably when he broke into someones summer home for the night and completed a half-finished crossword puzzle that was left on a table.
Apr 12, 2009
Kevin
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
small-pressy-or-obscurish
Read this one a few years ago and wrote about it here: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/bo... (go to the bottom of the page).
I actually have a signed copy!
I actually have a signed copy!
I found this book in September 1996 at Cheap Thrills in Montreal, while looking for The Glass Bead Game. It is one of my favourite books ever. I've bought and given away countless copies of In the Skin of a Lion, one of my other favourites; I'd have given away countless more of this one, but it is sadly out of print, and ridiculously expensive to get hold of. I've managed to hold on to my copy out of sheer pig-headedness, and material attachment of a kind rarely otherwise possible for me. I've...more
è più che stupendo. Un flusso di coscienza continuo che ti coinvolge completamente. L'ho letto tre volte di seguito. Superbo, davvero.
Werner Herzog is my favorite filmmaker and pretty much my favorite Artist ever, so perhaps I'm a bit biased but I thought this book was wonderful. Herzog's prose mirrors his film-making and is filled with so many subtle profundities and curious observations. Despite this being a diary, Herzog remains more or less an enigma. He often speaks of a growing madness and a bleak loneliness and one gets the sense that he's fashioning himself as one of his characters. All of this is, of course, keeping w...more
If you had any doubts about the clinical sanity of Werner Herzog, they will be dispelled by this text he wrote whilst walking from Munich to Paris.
This is ok. I thought reading this might add some depth to my appreciation of his films. Unfortunately the book doesn't appear to be nearly as articulate and insightful. A few good moments in here, but would only recommend to die hard fans of Werner Herzog.
werner herzog walked from munich to paris during intense winter weather with the conviction this could prevent or at least delay the death of someone he was travelling to visit. the experience and thoughts and observations along the way are.. acute, though-provoking, tangible. he seems borderline mad, yet unwavering. obviously resulting in a good read.
Aug 17, 2012
Grant Phipps
marked it as to-read
Perhaps a spiritual companion to Rings of Saturn? I'd love to find out.
super book if you like Herzog's films you'll like this book.
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Werner Herzog (born Werner Stipetić) is a German film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.
He is often associated with the German New Wave movement (also called New German Cinema), along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Wim Wenders and others. His films often feature heroes with impossible dreams or people with unique talents in obscure fields....more
More about Werner Herzog...
He is often associated with the German New Wave movement (also called New German Cinema), along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Wim Wenders and others. His films often feature heroes with impossible dreams or people with unique talents in obscure fields....more
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“Meanwhile it's got stormy, the tattered fog even thicker, chasing across my path. Three people are sitting in a glassy tourist cafe between clouds and clouds, protected by glass from all sides. Since I don't see any waiters, it crosses my mind that corpses have been sitting there for weeks, statuesque. All this time the cafe has been unattended, for sure. Just how long have they been sitting here, petrified like this?”
—
3 people liked it
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And great review, Eddie.
Sep 07, 2009 08:22am
And a muted HaHa for your pun.
updated Sep 07, 2009 09:34am