Conquest of the Useless

Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo (German: Die Eroberung des Nutzlosen) is a 2004 book by the German filmmaker Werner Herzog. It is Herzog's diaries from the troubled, three years long production of the 1982 film Fitzcarraldo.^[1][2]

Conquest of the Useless

Author	Werner Herzog
Original title	Die Eroberung des Nutzlosen
Translator	Krishna Winston
Language	German
Publisher	Carl Hanser Verlag
Publication date	2004
Publication place	Germany
Published in English	2009
Pages	334
ISBN	9783446204577

Kirkus Reviews called the book a "valuable historical record and a strangely stylish, hypnotic literary work".^[1] Jonathan Levi of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it reveals Herzog "to be witty, compassionate, microscopically observant and -- your call -- either maniacally determined or admirably persevering".^[2]

The book was the basis for the composition Sweat of the Sun by David Fennessy. It premiered at the Munich Biennale in 2016 and was performed at the Theater Osnabrück in 2017. Presented as a work of music theatre, the 65 minutes long performance had solo singers dressed up as Herzog and Klaus Kinski, although it featured no opera plot. Der Opernfreund [de] treated it as a concert piece and wrote it was reminiscent of works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann.^[3]