Werner Herzog

The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former solider famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and would meet many times, talking for hours and together unraveling the story of Onoda’s long war. At the end of 1944, on Lubang Island in the Philippines, with Japanese troops about to withdraw, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was given orders by his superior officer: Hold the island until the Imperial army’s return. You are to defend its territory by guerrilla tactics, at all costs. . . . There is only one rule. You are forbidden to die by your own hand. In the event of your capture by the enemy, you are to give them all the misleading information you can. So began Onoda’s long campaign, during which he became fluent in the hidden language of the jungle. Soon weeks turned into months, months into years, and years into decades—until eventually time itself seemed to melt away. All the while Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war, at once surreal and tragic, at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making. In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes and imagines Onoda’s years of absurd yet epic struggle in an inimitable, hypnotic style—part documentary, part poem, and part dream—that will be instantly recognizable to fans of his films. The result is a novel completely unto itself, a sort of modern-day Robinson Crusoe tale: a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives.

The Twilight World

Munich-Paris, 11/23 to 12/14, 1974

Of Walking in Ice

Legendary filmmaker and celebrated author Werner Herzog tells in his inimitable voice the story of his epic artistic career in a long-awaited memoir that is as inventive and daring as anything he has done before Werner Herzog was born in September 1942 in Munich, Germany, at a turning point in the Second World War. Soon Germany would be defeated and a new world would have to be made out the rubble and horrors of the war. Fleeing the Allied bombing raids, Herzog’s mother took him and his older brother to a remote, rustic part of Bavaria where he would spend much of his childhood hungry, without running water, in deep poverty. It was there, as the new postwar order was emerging, that one of the most visionary filmmakers of the next seven decades was formed. Until age 11, Herzog did not even know of the existence of cinema. His interest in films began at age 15, but since no one was willing to finance them, he worked the night shift as a welder in a steel factory. He started to travel on foot. He made his first phone call at age 17, and his first film in 1961 at age 19. The wildly productive working life that followed—spanning the seven continents and encompassing both documentary and fiction—was an adventure as grand and otherworldly as any depicted in his many classic films. Every Man for Himself and God Against All is at once a personal record of one of the great and self-invented lives of our time, and a singular literary masterpiece that will enthrall fans old and new alike. In a hypnotic swirl of memory, Herzog untangles and relives his most important experiences and inspirations, telling his story for the first and only time.

A Memoir

Every Man for Himself and God Against All

An account drawn from a diary kept by the revered filmmaker during the 1982 production of "Fitzcarraldo" describes the unique difficulties he faced in creating the film, from cast member clashes to the challenges of moving a 320-ton steamship over a hill.

Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo

Conquest of the Useless

Il crepuscolo del mondo

The long-awaited memoir by the legendary filmmaker and celebrated author. Told in Werner Herzog's inimitable voice, this is the story of his epic artistic career, as inventive and daring as anything he has done before. Hauling a steamship over a mountain in the jungle; walking from Munich to Paris in the dead of winter; descending into an active volcano; living in the wilderness among grizzly bears - Werner Herzog has always been intrigued by extremes of human experience. Here, he illuminates the influences and ideas that have driven his creativity and shaped his unique worldview. Herzog's life matches the drama of his famous films: the boy growing up in poverty in a small village in the Alps after the Second World War; the teenager travelling the world in search of adventure that almost cost him his life; the director trying to calm his leading actor Klaus Kinski in the Amazonian jungle. And along the way, Herzog tells of ordinary people with extraordinary stories: rural labourers, circus acrobats, child soldiers. Every Man for Himself and God Against All is at once a personal record of one of the great self-invented lives of our time, and a masterpiece that will enthral fans old and new. In a hypnotic swirl of memory, Herzog untangles and relives his most important experiences and inspirations, telling his story for the first and only time. Praise for Werner Herzog's previous books: 'Has the eerie power of the best fairytales. It hits you with the force of dreams' HELEN MACDONALD 'Surely the strangest, strongest walking book I know ... only Herzog could have written this weird, slender classic' ROBERT MACFARLANE 'Herzog's writing bristles with the same eerie and uncompromising energy as his films' GUARDIAN

Every Man for Himself and God against All

Das Dämmern der Welt

Erinnerungen

Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle

The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former solider famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and would meet many times, talking for hours and together unraveling the story of Onoda's long war. At the end of 1944, on Lubang Island in the Philippines, with Japanese troops about to withdraw, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was given orders by his superior officer: Hold the island until the Imperial army's return. You are to defend its territory by guerrilla tactics, at all costs. . . . There is only one rule. You are forbidden to die by your own hand. In the event of your capture by the enemy, you are to give them all the misleading information you can. So began Onoda's long campaign, during which he became fluent in the hidden language of the jungle. Soon weeks turned into months, months into years, and years into decades-until eventually time itself seemed to melt away. All the while Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war, at once surreal and tragic, at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making. In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes and imagines Onoda's years of absurd yet epic struggle in an inimitable, hypnotic style-part documentary, part poem, and part dream-that will be instantly recognizable to fans of his films. The result is a novel completely unto itself, a sort of modern-day Robinson Crusoe tale: a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives.

München - Paris 23.11. bis 14.12.1974

Vom Gehen im Eis

Buzda Yürüyüş

Conquista de lo inútil

The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II. In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former soldier famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and met many times, talking and unraveling the story of Onoda’s long war. At the end of 1944 on Lubang Island, with Japanese troops about to withdraw, Onoda stayed behind under orders from his superior officer. For years, Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war—at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making. In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes and imagines Onoda’s years of absurd yet epic struggle in an inimitable, hypnotic style—part documentary, part poem, and part dream—that will be instantly recognizable to fans of his films. The result is a novel completely unto itself: a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives.

A Novel

" Soudain, trouant le silence, une voix me demanda : "Si vous ne souhaitez pas voir l'empereur, qui d'autre pourriez-vous avoir envie de rencontrer au Japon ?' " À cette question, Werner Herzog répondit sans hésiter : " Onoda. " Le nom, à lui seul, a l'apparence d'une énigme. En 1945, lorsque le Japon capitule, Hiroo Onoda est un soldat de l'armée impériale à qui l'on a confié la défense d'une petite île des Philippines. Ignorant la défaite de son pays, retranché dans la jungle, il continuera pendant près de trente ans une guerre imaginaire où les véritables ennemis sont moins les troupes américaines qu'une nature hostile... et ses propres démons. Werner Herzog, qui a consacré ses plus grands films à la folie des hommes, imagine les scènes de ce combat épique et absurde, mené à la frontière indécise du rêve et de la réalité. Jusqu'à un face-à-face vertigineux avec Onoda, qu'il a personnellement connu. À la fois roman d'aventure, docufiction et poème halluciné, Le Crépuscule du monde est une méditation sur le sens que nous donnons à nos vies.

Le Crépuscule du monde

Dereng a világ

Zum 80. Geburtstag: die Lebenserinnerungen des großen Filmemachers Werner Herzog Werner Herzogs lang erwartete Erinnerungen erzählen ein Jahrhundertleben, wie es nicht einmal in einen seiner eigenen berühmten Filme passen würde. Ein immerzu hungriger Junge, mit der Mutter aus dem bombardierten München in ein bitterarmes Nest in den Alpen geflohen. Ein Jugendlicher, der ganz allein lostrampt und bald darauf im hintersten Ägypten im Fieberwahn auf den Tod wartet. Ein Liebender, ein Enthusiast, ein Getriebener: Ein Mann, der mitten im Dschungel leise auf den tobenden Klaus Kinski einredet, ein Mann, der weinend um seinen Freund Bruce Chatwin an dessen Sterbebett sitzt. Wüst und sanft, voller Lebensgier und Staunen über unsere Welt ist dieses Buch ein literarisches Ereignis.

Werner Herzog

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