Of Walking in Ice, Werner Herzog
Of Walking in Ice, Werner Herzog
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Of Walking in Ice
Munich-Paris: November 23-December 14, 1974

Author: Werner Herzog, Martje Herzog, Alan Greenberg, Jeffrey Schneider

Narrator: Werner Herzog

Unabridged: TBD

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 12/01/2026

Synopsis

A classic meditation on life, death, and a remarkable journey on foot from Munich to Paris by the legendary filmmaker and author Werner Herzog

In late November 1974, Herzog received terrible news: his mentor Lotte Eisner, the film historian and critic, was severely ill and close to death. She was in Paris and he was in Munich, but he decided then that he would begin walking toward her—an act of determination to keep Eisner alive through sheer force of will. He carried with him only a jacket, a compass, and a duffel bag of essentials, and set off on the three-week pilgrimage from Munich to Paris, trudging through snowstorms.

He walked, “in full faith, believing that she would stay alive if I came on foot,” and recorded every sensation: from the physical discomfort to moments of immense rapture. Part pilgrimage, part meditation, this hypnotic book presents the boundless mind of a great artist in defiance of the contemporary world, and includes Herzog’s 1982 afterword “Tribute to Lotte Eisner,” written upon her receipt of the Helmut Käutner Prize.

About The Author

Werner Herzog was born in Munich on September 5, 1942. He made his first film in 1961 at the age of nineteen. Since then, he has produced, written, and directed more than seventy feature and documentary films, including Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Nosferatu the Vampyre; Fitzcarraldo; Little Dieter Needs to Fly; My Best Fiend; Grizzly Man; Encounters at the End of the World; and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Herzog has published more than a dozen books of prose and directed as many operas. He lives in Munich and Los Angeles.

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Quotes

"Herzog's existential journey through a hostile winter landscape is one of the great modern pilgrimages—a record of physical suffering, of hallucination and ecstatic revelation, of portents and animals, of the wreckage of history and myth. Of Walking in Ice has the eerie power of the best fairytales. It hits you with the force of dreams and leaves you with the taste of snow-filled air." —Helen Macdonald

"Surely the strangest, strongest walking book I know, it tells the story of a winter pilgrimage, made in desperation and in hope. At once a diary, a blizzard of weather and memories, and the record of a ritual: only Herzog could have written this weird, slender classic." —Robert Macfarlane

"Herzog's pilgrimage is a fugue and an absurdist comedy as rich as anything in his cinema." —Iain Sinclair
"A poetic rendering of a fraught and wild pilgrimage." —Kirkus Reviews

"Herzog’s slight narrative is captivating because his experiences humanize the legendary filmmaker. He is full of curiosity and wonder. Even when he meanders into strange asides, Herzog remains interesting." —Publishers Weekly

"Herzog’s private dairy of his journey was first published four years later on. Titled Of Walking in Ice, it’s now being reissued by the University of Minnesota Press. It is a weird and wonderful document—a vital record of Herzog’s creation of his famous, baffling self." —Slate

"Perversely compelling...Herzog’s account begs to be read aloud." —New York Times

"Of Walking in Ice is not always particularly easy or pleasant to read. Nonetheless, Herzog’s tortuous prose makes you feel his pain. The further you read, the more you feel the anguish of the repetitiveness of walking alone." —Full Stop

"You almost forget that Herzog must have been writing these entries at the end of the day, because of course he couldn’t walk and experience and chronicle at the same time. And yet, like film, there is a vital sense of the now in his writing." —Film International

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