Of Walking in Ice

On hearing that Lotte Eisner, the film-maker and critic, was dying, Werner Herzog made the sudden decision that he would walk from Munich to Paris where she was in the hospital. For some reason, he believed that his pain would help her live that she would still be alive as he walked over 500 miles. He set off as soon as he could carrying the minimal possessions and a map and a compass. This slender book is a record of his journey.

The walk would take him from the 23rd November to the 14th December and being winter, the weather was bitterly cold and icy. His route on the back roads would take him along the Rhine, seeking shelter by breaking into unoccupied homes and wading through the snow as his walk is hit by blizzards, rain and other show more season weather.

The walk that he is making is a part pilgrimage and part meditation on his life at the moment. He battles weather, exhaustion and blisters with the hope of finding his mentor alive when he reaches Paris. He observes all around him as he walks, ice that is clear as glass on a stream, a raven in the rain with its head bowed, but there is an extra element in here, he sees something beyond reality at times.

I have not seen any of his films, but understand that they possess a similar strangeness that this psychogeographical journey has. You can see he is facing his physical and mental demons as he trudges towards his destination, but there is something about the way that he writes and see the world around him that makes this special. This is a book that I found through the fantastic Backlisted Podcast that explores that rich vein of books in publishers back catalogues that don’t see the light of day that often. 3.5 stars show less

I'm a big fan of Herzog's documentaries - I've seen all of them. This is another affair however. A pilgrimage of sorts, these writings were meant as a personal diary, not to be published. As a result it is highly idiosyncratic. It might click with some readers, but it didn't really work for me. It's always a tough read when an author doesn't focus.

The main problem with his 70-page booklet is the fact that there is no story arc or character development. Instead of story, there's sequence. Of Walking In Ice is a never ending series of impressionistic descriptions of things that caught Herzog's eye or mind during a journey on foot of 3 weeks from Munich to Paris. There're instances of poetry & meditation here and there, but not enough for show more my liking. There's lots of wisdom in Herzog's documentaries, but there's hardly any wisdom to be found here. Overall it feels disjointed and random. Herzog jumps from thing to thing very fast, often using just one sentence to describe something or someone, before describing something else that's unrelated - except maybe spatially. There's also a few hints of the surreal and the absurd, but again, not enough to deliver a coherent reading experience.

The ending is great though, so I'm glad I read it. Maybe this is better enjoyed in the original German for its possible poetic qualities - not sure.

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Can you imagine waking up to find Werner Herzog had broken into your house and was sleeping on the floor?

Diario di viaggio di Werner Herzog che, con il suo spirito quasi medievale, affrontò a piedi, in un inverno di gelo e bufere, il lungo tragitto da Monaco a Parigi, nella speranza di tenere in vita in questo modo l´amica Lotte Eisner (nume tutelare del cinema tedesco). Tra difficoltà e fatiche impensabili, il paesaggio, gli animali, le persone incontrate, la solitudine, tutto è trasfigurato dal personale modo di vedere (di sentire?) del regista. Un viaggio irreale, quasi onirico. Bella anche la postfazione di Anna Maria Carpi