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VINTAGE CLASSICS
WERNER HERZOG
Werner Herzog has produced, written and directed more than seventy feature and documentary films, including the multi-awardwinning Grizzly Man, Aguirre, The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, My Best Fiend, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Nosferatu, Lessons of Darkness, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Into the Inferno, Meeting Gorbachev and Encounters at the End of the World.
He has also directed many operas and published more than a dozen books of prose, including Conquest of the Useless, Of Walking in Ice, his first novel The Twilight World, and a memoir, Every Man for Himself and God against All.
ALSO BY WERNER HERZOG
Every Man for Himself and God against All
The
Twilight World
A Guide for the Perplexed Conquest of the Useless Scenarios series
WERNER HERZOG OF WALKING IN ICE
Munich–Paris
23 November–14 December 1974
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY Martje Herzog and Alan Greenberg
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English translation © Tanam Press 1980
First published in German under the title Vom Gehem in Eis in 1978 by Carl Hanser Verlag
Copyright ©1978 by Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München
First published in translation in 1980 by Jonathan Cape
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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iSBN 9781784870379
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Foreword
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 direct route to Paris, in full faith, believing that she would stay alive if I came on foot. Besides, I wanted to be alone with myself. What I wrote along the way was not intended for readers. Now, four years later, upon looking at the little notebook once again, I have been strangely touched, and the desire to show this text to others unknown to me outweighs the dread, the timidity to open the door so wide for unfamiliar eyes. Only a few private remarks have been omitted.
W.H.
Delft, Holland, 24 May 1978