The twilight world / Werner Herzog ; translated by Michael Hofmann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Herzog, Werner, 1942- author.

Contributor:

Hofmann, Michael, 1957 August 25- translator.

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Standardized Title:

Dämmern der Welt. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Onoda, Hiroo.

Japan. Rikugun--Biography--Fiction.

Japan.

Japan. Rikugun.

Soldiers--Japan--Biography--Fiction.

Soldiers.

Guerrilla warfare--Philippines--Lubang Islands.

Guerrilla warfare.

World War, 1939-1945--Philippines--Lubang Islands.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Armistices.

Armistices.

Philippines--Lubang Islands.

Biographical fiction.

Historical fiction.

Genre:

Biographies.

Nonfiction novels.

Biographical fiction.

Historical fiction.

Physical Description:

132 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Penguin Press, 2022.

Language Note:

In English, translated from German.

Summary:

"Werner Herzog, one of the most revered filmmakers of all time, in his first book in many years, tells the story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who continued to defend a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War Two. In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts there asked, 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 war was over. At their meeting, Herzog and Onoda spoke for hours, and together began to unravel Onoda's incredible story. 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. Defend the territory with guerilla tactics at all costs. There is only one rule: you are forbidden to die by your own hand. In the event of capture, give the enemy all the misleading information you can. Onoda dutifully retreated into the jungle, and so began his long campaign. Soon weeks turned into months, months into years, and years into decades. And all the while Onoda continued to follow his orders, surviving by any means necessary, at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, all alone in the jungle, like a phantom, becoming one with the natural world. Until eventually time itself seemed to melt away. In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes Onoda's years of absurd yet epic struggle, recounting his lonely mission 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 something like a modern-day Robinson Crusoe: nothing less than a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives"-- Provided by publisher

Notes:

"Originally published in German as Das Dämmern der Welt by Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München."

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Herzog, Werner, 1942- Dämmern der Welt. English Twilight world

ISBN:

9780593490266

0593490266

OCLC:

1268682769