Hegel, Nietzsche, and Heidegger are prominent among the philosophical sources, but Eldridge also draws extensively on commentary by contemporary film scholars and reviewers and on Herzogs own writings and interviews. Particularly effective are Eldridges insightful close readings of particular films, both fiction and documentary Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *
The range of films discussed is excellent, avoiding the over-familiar concentration on the output of the 1960s and 70s. * Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media *
Richard Eldridge's excellent contribution to Bloomsbury's Philosophical Filmmakers series creates a significant set of interpretations of Werner Herzog's films, by showing how these films not only interact with philosophy, but do work parallel to that done by philosophy. * Monatshefte *
Werner Herzog, although patently an auteur, has not always fared well with academic critics, due to their theoretical biases. Herzogs art is Romantic, with a capital R, committed to defamiliarizing reality in the spirit of Heidegger. But in Richard Eldridge, Herzog has finally found his ideal interpreter. A philosopher steeped in German philosophy and Romantic literature, as well as Wittgenstein and Cavell, Eldridge is able to demonstrate Herzogs attention to fundamental existential themes in ways that makes an exemplary case for the power of humane letters to reveal the importance of great art. -- Noel Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, The City University of New York, USA
In his brilliant and stimulating study, Richard Eldridge shows that the issues addressed in Herzogs films are continuous with those of concern to philosophers, most centrally that of finding meaning in our lives. Eldridge enriches our understanding of the philosophical capabilities of film through his detailed exploration of how Herzogs films present the human quest for meaning in a world that is, if not hostile, indifferent to our purposes. A major achievement! -- Thomas E. Wartenberg Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Mount Holyoke College, USA
This book brings remarkable intellectual breadth and depth to bear on Herzog as a filmmaker wrestling with the fundamental issues of human existenceWith always acutely perceptive and often surprising results, Eldridge places the directors work in mutually enlightening dialog with numerous conceptual, artistic, and historical traditions, while remaining highly sensitive to the fine-grained experiential and cinematic textures of the films discussed. Elegantly integrating Ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophical perspectives with film theory and criticism, this is not only a major original study of Herzog, but a template for a richer form of philosophy of, and through, film, with its own version of ecstatic truth. -- Daniel Yacavone Lecturer of Film Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK
