October 1968 and I was studying for my law exams. It was essential that I pass them all so that I could complete the degree by the end of 1969. If I did not a 19 unit degree became a 23 unit one which would extend my time at University – a consummation devoutly to be missed.
It was essential to have a study plan and I devised one which divided the day into 3 hour blocks starting at 5:00 am and finishing about 10:00 pm. Between each block I took a break of between 30 – 45 minutes to clear the head of the study cobwebs, go for a walk, read the paper or a book. The book thing was difficult. I needed a complete escape. Even then I was too familiar with the Lord of the Rings for that to happen. I needed something else.
I had nothing but on one of the breaks walked up to a nearby dairy to buy snacks and smokes. On a bookstand was a thick volume with an unusual cover. The title of the book was “Dune” and it was by Frank Herbert and after a look at the blurb and the first page it looked promising.
I purchased it and the breaks between study became filled with travels in the Duneiverse. It was escapist and the escape was total – a different world, different concepts and a story that was brilliantly told.
Since then I have read all the Dune books written Frank Herbert and all the sequels set in the Duneinverse by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. I have seen David Lynch’s movie that was made in 1984 and the 2000 and 2003 mini-series based around Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. I have seen Denis Villeneuve’s excellent rendering of the first book in Dune Part 1 and anxiously await 29 February when Part 2 will be released.
I loved the books and certainly the first three would be my second favourite series of novels. “Lord of the Rings” is the first. What started as escapism became a 55 year fascination with the Duneiverse.
This article is about Dune and deals mainly with the first book in what have become known as the Dune Chronicles.
Much of the source material I have used is available on-line and an especially helpful article on Wikipedia provided a number of useful sources. I am one of those who values footnotes and references which, although sometimes amounting to rabbit holes, can provide valuable information and insights. I also acknowledge a debt to Brian Herbert’s biography “Dreamer of Dune” and “The Worlds of Dune” by Tom Hiddleston. The illustration of Paul on the Sandworm is taken from an illustrated edition of “Dune” which I treasure. The illustrations are by John Schonherr who was there at the beginning, providing illustrations for the Analog publications of the Dune novellas. Herbert admired Schonherr’s work which is very evocative of the story.
Beginnings
Dune was released as a novel in 1965 and is by American author Frank Herbert. It was originally published as two separate serials(1963-64 novel 'Dune World' and 1965 novel 'Prophet of Dune') in Analog magazine and it tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. Over the years Herbert’s opus eclipsed that of his co-winner, Zelasny.
But Dune was just the start. It was followed by two sequels Dune Messiah
and Children of Dune.
These books comprise what is referred to as the Dune Trilogy. But Herbert did not stop there. The fourth book set in the Duneiverse was God Emperor of Dune a confusing book set some 3,500 years after Children of Dune. God Emperor was followed by Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune.
Those are the books that were written by Frank Herbert himself. ASfter his death his son Brian with the assistance of Kevin J Anderson wrote a number of prequels to the events in Dune, drawing upon Frank Herbert’s notes.
The Background
The Dune saga is set thousands of years in humanity's future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed, and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds. However, a great reaction against computers has resulted in a ban on any kind of "thinking machine", with the creation or possession of such punishable by immediate death.
Despite this prohibition, humanity continues to develop and advance other branches of technology, including extrasensory perception (ESP) and instruments of war. At the time of Dune’s setting, humanity has formed a feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, run by several Great Houses that oversee various planets. Of key interest is the planet Arrakis, known as "Dune". A desert planet with nearly no precipitation, it is the only planet where a special life-extending drug, melange or "the spice", can be found.
In addition to life extension, melange enhances the mental capacity of humans: it allows for the mutated Spacing Guild pilots to navigate folded space and travel the distances between planets; and triggers some of the powers of the Bene Gesserit, a religious sisterhood group that secretly seeks to control the direction humanity takes. Melange is difficult to acquire, not only due to the harsh environment of Arrakis, but also the presence of giant sandworms that are drawn towards any rhythmic sounds on the sands of the desert. Control of Arrakis, its spice production, and the impact on humanity's development become the centerpoints of a millennia-long conflict that develops through the series.
The Plot
Duke Leto Atreides of House Atreides, ruler of the ocean planet Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis.
Shaddam, jealous of Duke Leto Atreides's rising popularity in the Landsraad, sees House Atreides as a potential future rival and threat, so conspires with House Harkonnen, the former stewards of Arrakis and the longstanding enemies of House Atreides, to destroy Leto and his family after their arrival.
Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind, but is compelled to obey the Emperor's orders anyway.
Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields seemingly superhuman physical and mental abilities, such as the ability to control their bodies down to the cellular level, and also decide the sex of their children.
Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of their breeding program, out of love for Leto she bore a son, Paul. From a young age, Paul has been trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck. Thufir Hawat, the Duke's Mentat (human computers, able to store vast amounts of data and perform advanced calculations on demand), has instructed Paul in the ways of political intrigue. Jessica has also trained her son in Bene Gesserit disciplines.
Paul's prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to a deadly test. This involves her holding a poisoned needle (the gom jabbar) to his neck, ready to strike should he withdraw his hand from a box which creates extreme pain by nerve induction but causes no physical damage. This is to test Paul's ability to endure the pain so as not to die on the tip of the needle; to confirm that his human strengths can overcome his animal instincts.
Paul passes by enduring greater pain than any female who has ever been subjected to the test. Leto, Jessica, and Paul travel with their household to occupy Arrakeen, the capital on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and seeks to negotiate with the planet's indigenous Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides's arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise.
Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Letoto the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries. Yueh, however, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert, where they are presumed dead by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter. The Baron narrowly avoids the gas due to his shield, which kills Leto, De Vries, and the others in the room. The Baron forces Hawat to take over De Vries's position by dosing him with a long-lasting, fatal poison and threatening to withhold the regular antidote doses unless he obeys. While he follows the Baron's orders, Hawat works secretly to undermine the Harkonnens.
Having fled into the desert, Paul is exposed to high concentrations of spice and has visions through which he realizes he has significant powers (as a result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme). He foresees potential futures in which he lives among the planet's native Fremen before leading them on a Holy Jihad across the known universe.
It is revealed Jessica is the daughter of Baron Harkonnen, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit. After being captured by Fremen, Paul and Jessica are accepted into the Fremen community of Sietch Tabr, and teach the Fremen the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known as the "weirding way".
Paul proves his manhood by killing a Fremen named Jamis in a ritualistic crysknife fight and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking the poisonous Water of Life.
Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes the unborn child, Alia, to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover, Chani, and has a son with her, Leto II. Two years pass and Paul's powerful prescience manifests, which confirms for the Fremen that he is their prophesied messiah, a legend planted by the Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva.
Paul embraces his father's belief that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron encourages his brutish nephew Glossu Rabban to rule with an iron fist, hoping the contrast with his shrewder nephew Feyd-Rautha will make the latter popular among the people of Arrakis when he eventually replaces Rabban.
The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to monitor activity on Arrakis. Hawat uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance.
Gurney, who survived the Harkonnen coup and became a smuggler, reunites with Paul and Jessica after a Fremen raid on his harvester. Believing Jessica to be the traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her, but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack, and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is traditionally fatal to males. Paul falls into unconsciousness for three weeks after drinking the poison, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: he is the Kwisatz Haderach, the ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program.Paul senses the Emperor and Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion, and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive against the Harkonnen troops. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis. The Emperor's troops seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including young Leto II, while Alia is captured and taken to the Emperor.
Under cover of an electric storm, which shorts out the Emperor's troops' defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, assault the capital while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops.
Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless Shaddam abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a ritualistic knife fight, during which he attempts to cheat and kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him.
The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughter Princess Irulan's hand in marriage. As Paul takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he has achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain.
Themes
One of the central themes of "Dune" is the concept of power, both political and personal. At its core, the novel explores the various manifestations of power and the impact it has on individuals and societies. The struggle for control of Arrakis and its valuable resource, melange, drives much of the narrative and serves as a catalyst for examining the machinations of power.
Furthermore, the novel delves into the ecological theme of the delicate balance between humans and their environment. Arrakis is a harsh desert planet, and Herbert vividly depicts the intricate ecosystem of the desert and the adaptations of its inhabitants. The Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, have developed a deep understanding of their environment, and their way of life is intricately tied to the planet's ecology.
Religion and spirituality also play a significant role in "Dune." The novel explores the idea of messianic figures and the power of belief, particularly through the character of Paul Atreides. As Paul becomes increasingly intertwined with the Fremen and their prophecies, the narrative delves into the transformative nature of spirituality and its impact on personal and societal identity.
In addition to these themes, "Dune" also delves into the human experience, exploring concepts of destiny, identity, and the consequences of choice. Paul Atreides undergoes a profound personal journey throughout the novel, grappling with his own identity and the weight of his choices as he navigates the intricate political landscape of Arrakis.
Moreover, the novel's exploration of the complexities of human relationships, particularly familial and romantic bonds, adds depth to the narrative. The dynamics within the Atreides family and their interactions with other noble houses reveal the intricate web of alliances, betrayals, and loyalties that drive the plot forward.
Ultimately, "Dune" is a rich and intricate tapestry of themes that resonate with readers on multiple levels. Herbert's masterful storytelling weaves together political intrigue, ecological awareness, religious allegory, and profound explorations of the human experience to create a timeless work of science fiction.
The cast of characters in "Dune" is rich and diverse, with complex motivations and allegiances. Paul Atreides undergoes a transformative journey as he discovers his own latent powers and grapples with the weight of his family's legacy. Other notable characters include the cunning Lady Jessica, Paul's mother and a member of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood with powerful abilities; the formidable Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, leader of House Harkonnen and a ruthless antagonist; and the enigmatic Fremen leader, Stilgar.
The novel weaves together intricate political machinations, epic battles, and philosophical contemplation, creating a rich tapestry of a universe at once familiar and utterly alien. Herbert's world-building is meticulous, immersing readers in an intricately detailed and compelling vision of the future.
"Dune" has been celebrated for its groundbreaking approach to speculative fiction, blending elements of space opera, political intrigue, and ecological themes. The characters and plot resonate with readers for their depth and complexity, and the novel's influence extends far beyond the realm of science fiction literature, shaping the landscape of the genre for decades to come.
Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in his Dune universe so he could address the politics of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology.
For example, a key pre-history event to the novel's present is the "Butlerian Jihad", in which all robots and computers were destroyed, eliminating these common elements to science fiction from the novel as to allow focus on humanity.
Dune considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time. Director John Harrison, who adapted Dune for Syfy's 2000miniseries, called the novel a universal and timeless reflection of "the human condition and itsmoral dilemmas"
“ A lot of people refer to Dune as science fiction. I never do. I consider it an epic adventure in the classic storytelling tradition, a story of myth and legend not unlike the Morte d'Arthur or any messiah story. It just happens to be set in the future ... The story is actually more relevant today than when Herbert wrote it. In the 1960s, there were just these two colossal superpowers duking it out. Today we're living in a more feudal, corporatized world more akin to Herbert's universe of separate families, power centers and business interests, all interrelated and kept together by the one commodity necessary to all.”
Brian Herbert commented:
“Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil. The planet Arrakis features immense, ferocious worms that are like dragons of lore, with "great teeth" and a "bellows breath of cinnamon." This resembles the myth described by an unknown English poet in Beowulf , the compelling tale of a fearsome fire dragon who guarded a great treasure hoard in a lair under cliffs, at the edge of the sea.
The desert of Frank Herbert's classic novel is a vast ocean of sand, with giant worms diving into the depths, the mysterious and unrevealed domain of Shai-hulud.
Dune tops are like the crests of waves, and there are powerful sandstorms out there, creating extreme danger. On Arrakis, life is said to emanate from the Maker (Shai-hulud) in the desert-sea; similarly all life on Earth is believed to have evolved from our oceans.
Frank Herbert drew parallels, used spectacular metaphors, and extrapolated present conditions into world systems that seem entirely alien at first blush. But close examination reveals they aren't so different from systems we know … and the book characters of his imagination are not so different from people familiar to us.”
There are other aspects of Dune that are familiar. The Fremen may well have stepped out of the Middle East and it has been suggested that Dune has Islamic undertones. Certainly the use of words like jihad and Shaitan are clearly Arabic but Herbet also uses words that bear phonetic similarity to Arabic. Shai-hulud is derived from Arabic sayh hulud “old man of enternity”. Paul’s adopted name Muad ‘Dib - desert mouse - hails from mu’addib or “educator”. Herbert’s use of language is meaningful and carefully chosen, and helps create an "imagined desert culture that resonates with exotic sounds, enigmas, and pseudo-Islamic references" and has a distinctly Bedouin aesthetic.
The environment of the desert planet Arrakis was primarily inspired by the environments of the Middle East . Similarly Arrakis as a bioregion is presented as a particular kind of political site.
]
The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of
Arabia , and the Mahdi prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology.
Dune and Foundation
Tim O'Reilly in Chapter 5 of his book “Frank Herbert” suggests that Herbert also wrote Dune as a counterpoint to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. In his monograph on Frank Herbert, O'Reilly wrote that "Dune is clearly a commentary on the Foundation trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced into Dune is that the Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero."
According to O'Reilly, Herbert bases the Bene Gesserit on the scientific shamans of the Foundation, though they use biological rather than statistical science. In contrast to the Foundation series and its praise of science and rationality, Dune proposes that the unconscious and unexpected are actually what are needed for humanity.
Both Herbert and Asimov explore the implications of prescience (i.e., visions of the future) both psychologically and socially. The Foundation series deploys a broadly determinist approach to prescient vision rooted in mathematical reasoning on a macroscopic social level.
Dune, by contrast, invents a biologically rooted power of prescience that becomes determinist when the user actively relies on it to navigate past an undefined threshold of detail. Herbert's eugenically produced and spice-enhanced prescience is also personalized to individual actors whose roles in later books constrain each other's visions, rendering the future more or less mutable as time progresses.
In what might be a comment on Foundation, Herbert's most powerfully prescient being in God Emperor of Dune laments the boredom engendered by prescience, and values surprises, especially regarding one's death, as a psychological necessity.
However, both works contain a similar theme of the restoration of civilization and seem to make the fundamental assumption that "political maneuvering, the need to control material or mating bonds will be fundamentally the same in the future as they are now.
The Praise of One’s Peers
Arthur C. Clarke described Dune as "unique" and wrote, "I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings." J. R. R. Tolkien refused to review Dune, on the grounds that he disliked it "with some intensity" and thus felt it would be unfair to Herbert, another working author, if he gave an honest review of the book.
Robert A. Heinlein described the novel as "powerful, convincing, and most ingenious." and P. Schuyler Miller called Dune "one of the landmarks of modern science fiction ... an amazing feat of creation." After criticizing unrealistic science fiction, Carl Sagan in 1978 listed Dune as among stories "that are so tautly constructed, so rich in the accommodating details of an unfamiliar society that they sweep me along before I have even a chance to be critical".
One critic suggested that Dune lacked true fandom among SF fans in that it "has not penetrated popular culture in the way that The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have". Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation may change that although I would suggest that with the vast post mortem publication of Dune prequels, Herbert must have a substantial fan following.
Which Brings Us to the Film
To make a movie of a book always involves movie rights. And Dune had an interesting run as far as rights were concerned. It was considered to be unfilmable. It was described in Wired in 2021as a book with “four appendices and a glossary of its own gibberish, and its action takes place on two planets, one of which is a desert overrun by worms the size of airport runways. Lots of important people die or try to kill each other, and they're all tethered to about eight entangled subplots."
In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by Arthur P. Jacobs) optioned the rights to film Dune but did nothing with it. In December 1974 a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with Alejandro Jodorowsky set to direct. Jodorowsky’s plan were extraordinarily ambitious but it came to nothing as funding dried up. “Jodorowsky’s Dune” is the subject of a movie which tracks the development of the “Greatest Movie Never Made”.
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director Ridley Scott in 1979, with Rudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production. The project stalled but In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels (written and unwritten).
Director David Lynch agreed to direct Dune as well as develop a script. Lynch ended up producing a nearly three-hour long film, but at demands from Universal Pictures, the film's distributor, he cut it back to about two hours, hastily filming additional scenes to make up for some of the cut footage.
The film was released in 1984. Herbert was pleased with the result saying “"They've got it. It begins as Dune does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties, but you're gonna come out knowing you've seen Dune."
However, the film was not a critical success. Some reviewers considered the film was incomprehensible unless there was some familiarity with the book. When the film was released on DVD much of the footage that Lynch had cut was reintroduced creating an over-three-hour long version with extensive monologue exposition. Lynch was not associated with this project and distanced himself from it.
In 2000, John Harrison adapted the novel into Frank Herbert's Dune, a three part miniseries which premiered on American Sci-Fi Channel and is available on DVD. Frank Herbert's Dune won two Emmy Awards in 2001 for Outstanding Cinematography and Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a miniseries or movie, and was nominated for a third Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing. The series was also praised by several critics, including Kim Newman. It was followed by a sequel in 2003 titled Children of Dune and is an adaptation of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
Although there was talk of making a new film based on the book in 2008, plans were dropped in 2011. In November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for Dune. Denis Villeneuve was to direct the project and in March 2018 set out his plans for two films the first of which premiered in 2021. The film has won a number of awards and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning six. This ensured that the second part would be made and was scheduled for release in November 2023. The SAG-AFTRA strike meant this did not take place and the sequel Dune Part Two will be released on 1 March 2024 although as a result of the mysteries of the International Date Line the second part will be released in New Zealand on 29 February 2024.
It certainly will be worth a look – probably the IMAX version will be the visually most spectacular. I look forward to it. What started as an escape from the rigours of exam study has been a long literary journey – and a most enjoyable and thought-provoking one.
Interesting that Tolkein thought it was so bad.....nobodies perfect!
The first movie completely nailed the mood of the book and they did a great job of the duelling with energy shields. The duelling, that strange mix of the archaic with the futuristic, stuck with me the most. It's a theme reflected throughout the books.
You didn't mention Dune II the computer game, made by Westwood Studios. I had it on my old Amiga 500 and it actually introduced me to the books. The game was a bit of a big deal as well it was the pre-eminent "Real Time Strategy (RTS) Game", from it came the Command and Conquer series that was hugely successful.
A lot of modern games owe a huge favour to Dune, Frank Herberts vision penetrating into the culture both far and wide.
Can't wait for the new one!
The new movie is due out soon I believe? Are you also a George R.R. Martin fan? His characters don't get the "plot armour" that so many others do and I find hard to cope with so many favourites being killed off. But I'm getting to know well now LOTR (and all Tolkien), Dune and Game Of Thrones because of my son's readings (he reads them out loud to me after he's read them). Another of Dom's favourites is Raymond E Feist.