Dune (1965)

I had a nice time finally getting to Frank Herbert’s massive worldview of desert planet Arrakis, the first and rather large installment in the Dune franchise—six novels by Frank, a dozen or more by his son Brian with Kevin J. Anderson, a handful of short stories by these three, and who knows what-all out there in the fan fiction wilderness. It must rival Cthulhu by now for world-building impact. I was most impressed by the complexity of the vision, which drills and drills into Arrakis, with visions of a future social order writ large. Depressingly feudal, yet plausible enough. Powerful economic and political forces colliding in slow motion over the planet’s primary export, a “geriatric” drug called “spice,” created by monstrous sandworms the size of whales and dinosaurs. Somewhat prescient for 1965 perhaps, the conceit of spice is as a metaphor for oil, hence in part the heavy and intriguing touches of Arabic and Muslim culture. Then there is the main character, Paul Muad’Dib, who harks to T.E. Lawrence up to and including the epic 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia. I’ve heard it both ways on this first Dune novel all my life. Even those most positive about it tend to acknowledge you have to get through the first hundred pages, and refer to the handy (or, in the case of the kindle product, not so handy, boo hiss) glossary. I saw what they meant, relied on context, and plodded along. It picks up momentum eventually—before much action can occur it has a lot to tell us about the history and ways of Arrakis. I’m not surprised Herbert the elder had five more finished novels and more planned. Dune comes as some kind of inflection point when the classic SF of the ‘40s and ‘50s began giving way to the SF New Wave. The sources of Dune are closer to the classic SF mode, in a way, but the vision was every bit as big or even bigger than what we’d got from Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, or Robert Heinlein. I liked Dune and got the impression it would reward rereading. I’m probably going to try the next novel in the series, Dune Messiah, and see about the rest from there. I do hear of people giving up before they get to the sixth. I’m quite late to Dune, on which it’s likely you know already where you stand. But I’ll still recommend reading it. You’re likely to get something out of it, and probably it makes the movies more legible too.

In case the library is closed due to pandemic, which is over.