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Ep. 510: On Nature and Suffering with Werner Herzog

Published: 2024-01-08 10:00:00
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Steven Rinella talks with filmmaker and writer, Werner Herzog.

Topics discussed: Werner Herzog’s latest memoir, Every Man for Himself and God Against All; writing text in your native tongue; “The nets were set the night before”; mattresses stuffed with fern; when the first time you ate an egg was a feast; having no tolerance for the culture of complaint; the value of food as something to be honored; determining how you live but not telling others how to live; taking self responsibility for getting your own food; grabbing trout out of the creek with your bare hands; the people who seem miserable but are happy and dignified in Herzog’s film Happy People; how Timothy Treadwell was undoubtedly a very good outdoorsman; the Disney-ization of nature; how the story behind Grizzly Man stumbled into Werner; the need to protect the privacy of death; surviving a plane crash from 15,000 feet and then knowing how to get by in the jungle; how the birds scream in agony; loving all of your films; when you use a phone for the first time at the age of 17; the afterlife; acting in The Mandalorian and playing a character on The Simpsons; and more. 

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Referenced Books

Every Man for Himself and God Against All
by Werner Herzog
Steve Rinella mentions he started reading Herzog's new book, which is Herzog's memoir about his life. He states 'I didn't realize the extent of the poverty that you grew up in' after reading it.
Referenced at 00:04:46
Conquest of the Useless
by Werner Herzog
Herzog references his own book when discussing his views on the jungle, saying 'I say it also in in some written texts in my book Conquest of the Useless.'
Referenced at 00:51:09
Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes
Herzog uses Don Quixote as a metaphor when discussing Fitzcarraldo, mentioning 'don Quixote tackling with his lance the windmills' as something 'described, of course by Cervantes' that represents a metaphor dormant in us.
Referenced at 00:50:05
Moby Dick
by Herman Melville
Herzog references Moby Dick when discussing big metaphors: 'or Moby Dick the Hunt for the White Whale, things like that' as examples of dormant metaphors within us.
Referenced at 00:50:05
The Twilight World
by Werner Herzog
Herzog mentions writing this novel, stating 'I would not write a novel like The Twilight World in English. I write it in German and it's translated.'
Referenced at 00:56:32