Saturday, April 18, 2020

World Book Day: Dune (novel)



Dune (novel)


Dune is a 1965 science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966,[2] and it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel.[3] It is the first installment of the Dune saga, and in 2003 was cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel.[4][5]
Set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "the spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides.[6] As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is thus a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.[7]
Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. The first novel also inspired a 1984 film adaptation by David Lynch, the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (which combines the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune), a series of computer games, a board game, songs, and a series of followups, including prequels and sequels, that were co-written by Kevin J. Anderson and the author's son, Brian Herbert, starting in 1999.[8] A new film adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve is scheduled to be released on December 18, 2020.
Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.[9][10][11]
Origins
After his novel The Dragon in the Sea was published in 1957, Herbert traveled to Florence, Oregon, at the north end of the Oregon Dunes. Here, the United States Department of Agriculture was attempting to use poverty grasses to stabilize the sand dunes. Herbert claimed in a letter to his literary agent, Lurton Blassingame, that the moving dunes could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways."[12] Herbert's article on the dunes, "They Stopped the Moving Sands", was never completed (and only published decades later in The Road to Dune) but its research sparked Herbert's interest in ecology.
Herbert spent the next five years researching, writing, and revising. He published a three-part serial Dune World in the monthly Analog, from December 1963 to February 1964. The serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-part The Prophet of Dune in the January – May 1965 issues.[13][14] The first serial became "Book 1: Dune" in the final published Dune novel, and the second serial was divided into "Book Two: Muad'dib" and "Book Three: The Prophet". The serialized version was expanded, reworked, and submitted to more than twenty publishers, each of whom rejected it. The novel, Dune, was finally accepted and published in August 1965 by Chilton Books, a printing house better known for publishing auto repair manuals.
Herbert dedicated his work "to the people whose labors go beyond ideas into the realm of 'real materials'—to the dry-land ecologists, wherever they may be, in whatever time they work, this effort at prediction is dedicated in humility and admiration."
Plot
Duke Leto Atreides of the House Atreides, ruler of the ocean planet Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to manage the harvesting of melange on the planet Arrakis. Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitable desert planet, and is the only source of melange, or "the spice", an extremely rare and valuable substance that extends human life and enhances mental capabilities. Leto is aware that this assignment is a trap of some kind, but he cannot refuse. Shaddam sees House Atreides as a rival among the other Great Houses in the Landsraad, and conspires with House Harkonnen, the longstanding enemies of House Atreides, to destroy Leto once he arrives on Arrakis. Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields physical powers that appear superhuman. Though Jessica had been 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. Paul is trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the Mentat assassin Thufir Hawat and elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck to prepare for Arrakis. Jessica also trained Paul in what Bene Gesserit disciplines she can, and his prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. Leto, Jessica and Paul travel with their household to occupy the stronghold on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the danger involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and negotiates with the planet's native Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes.
Harkonnen forces, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise, attack the Atreides. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries. Yueh, however, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert, and they are presumed dead by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter, but Harkonnen narrowly avoids the gas, which instead kills Leto and De Vries. The Baron forces Hawat to take over De Vries' position; while he follows the Baron's orders, Hawat works out how to undermine the Harkonnens. After fleeing into the desert, Paul realizes he has significant powers as an accidental result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme, inadvertently caused by Jessica bearing a son. He foresees futures in which he lives among the planet's native Fremen, and has a vision where he is informed of the addictive qualities of the spice. 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 and chooses his Fremen name of Muad'Dib. Jessica opts to undergo the 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 abilities have manifested, which lead the Fremen to consider him their Mahdi (messiah). Paul recognizes that the Fremen can be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could extend to the entire universe. Word about this new Fremen leader Muad'Dib reaches both Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor as spice production falls due to increasingly destructive Fremen raids.
The Baron decides to replace his more brutish nephew Glossu Rabban with his shrewd nephew Feyd-Rautha, hoping to gain favor with the Fremen. The Emperor suspects the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, and 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 Halleck has reunited with Paul and Jessica. Believing Jessica to be the Atreides traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her, but is stopped by Paul. However, Paul had not foreseen Gurney's attack, and believes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which has always been fatal to men. Paul falls into unconsciousness for several weeks after drinking the Water, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space—he has become the Kwisatz Haderach, the goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. It is also revealed that Jessica is the secret daughter of the Baron Harkonnen. Paul senses that 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, and their combined troops seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including Leto II, while Alia is captured and taken to the Baron. She remains defiant, putting her trust in her brother and revealing that Muad'Dib is Paul. At that moment, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, assault the capital, and Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. Paul and the Fremen quickly defeat the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops. Paul faces the Emperor and threatens to destroy spice production forever unless the Emperor abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a knife battle, but 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 achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain.
Characters
House Atreides
House Harkonnen
House Corrino
Bene Gesserit
Fremen
  • The Fremen, "native" inhabitants of Arrakis
  • Stilgar, Fremen Naib (chieftain) of Sietch Tabr
  • Chani, Paul's Fremen concubine
  • Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist on Arrakis and father of Chani, as well as a revered figure among the Fremen
  • Mapes, head housekeeper of imperial residence on Arrakis
  • Jamis, Fremen killed by Paul in ritual duel
  • Harah, wife of Jamis and later servant to Paul
  • Ramallo, reverend mother of Sietch Tabr
Smugglers
  • Esmar Tuek, a powerful smuggler and the father of Staban Tuek.
  • Staban Tuek, the son of Esmar Tuek. A powerful smuggler who befriends and takes in Gurney Halleck and his surviving men after the attack on the Atreides.
Themes and influences
The Dune series is a landmark of soft science fiction. Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in his Dune universe so he could address the politics of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology. Dune considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time.[1] Director John Harrison, who adapted Dune for Syfy's 2000 miniseries, called the novel a universal and timeless reflection of "the human condition and its moral dilemmas", and said:
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.[15]
Novelist Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, wrote:
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.[16]
Each chapter of Dune begins with an epigraph excerpted from the fictional writings of the character Princess Irulan. In forms such as diary entries, historical commentary, biography, quotations and philosophy, these writings set tone and provide exposition, context and other details intended to enhance understanding of Herbert's complex fictional universe and themes.[17][18][19] Brian Herbert wrote: "Dad told me that you could follow any of the novel's layers as you read it, and then start the book all over again, focusing on an entirely different layer. At the end of the book, he intentionally left loose ends and said he did this to send the readers spinning out of the story with bits and pieces of it still clinging to them, so that they would want to go back and read it again."[20]
Environmentalism and ecology
Dune has been called the "first planetary ecology novel on a grand scale".[21] After the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962, science fiction writers began treating the subject of ecological change and its consequences. Dune responded in 1965 with its complex descriptions of Arrakis life, from giant sandworms (for whom water is deadly) to smaller, mouse-like life forms adapted to live with limited water. Dune was followed in its creation of complex and unique ecologies by other science fiction books such as A Door into Ocean (1986) and Red Mars (1992).[21] Environmentalists have pointed out that Dune's popularity as a novel depicting a planet as a complex—almost living—thing, in combination with the first images of Earth from space being published in the same time period, strongly influenced environmental movements such as the establishment of the international Earth Day.[22]
Declining empires
Lorenzo DiTommaso compared Dune's portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire to Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which argues that Christianity allied with the profligacy of the Roman elite led to the fall of Ancient Rome. In "History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert's Dune" (1992), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of the Emperor on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Harkonnen in his palace. The Emperor loses his effectiveness as a ruler through an excess of ceremony and pomp. The hairdressers and attendants he brings with him to Arrakis are even referred to as "parasites". The Baron Harkonnen is similarly corrupt, materially indulgent, and a sexual degenerate. Gibbon's Decline and Fall partly blames the fall of Rome on the rise of Christianity. Gibbon claimed that this exotic import from a conquered province weakened the soldiers of Rome and left it open to attack. Similarly, the Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Dune because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and the Fremen's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Fremen put the community before themselves in every instance, while the world outside wallows in luxury at the expense of others.[23]
The decline and long peace of the Empire sets the stage for revolution and renewal by genetic mixing of successful and unsuccessful groups through war, a process culminating in the Jihad led by Paul Atreides, described by Frank Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950 The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare),[24][25] themes that would reappear in God Emperor of Dune's Scattering and Leto II's all-female Fish Speaker army.
Middle-Eastern and Islamic references
Due to the similarities between some of Herbert's terms and ideas and actual words and concepts in the Arabic language, as well as the series' "Islamic undertones" and themes, a Middle-Eastern influence on Herbert's works has been noted repeatedly.[26][27] In addition to Arabic, Dune derives words and names from multiple other languages, including Hebrew, Navajo, Latin, Chakobsa, the Nahuatl dialect of the Aztecs, Greek, Persian, East Indian, Russian, Turkish, Finnish, and Old English.[28]
As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides' character bears many similarities to the historical T. E. Lawrence;[29] his 1962 biopic Lawrence of Arabia has also been identified as an influence.[30] Lesley Blanch's novel The Sabres of Paradise (1960) has also been identified as a major influence upon Dune, with its depiction of Imam Shamil and the Islamic culture of the Caucasus inspiring some of the themes, characters, events and terminology of Dune.[31]
The environment of the desert planet Arrakis is similar to the Middle East, particularly the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf, as well as Mexico. The novel also contains references to the petroleum industries in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf as well as Mexico.[32] The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and the Mahdi (messiah) prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology.[6]
Gender dynamics
Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominating shadow government behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions. A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason.[citation needed] This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality.[33] Margery Hourihan called the main character's mother, Jessica, "by far the most interesting character in the novel"[34] and pointed out that while her son approaches a power which makes him almost alien to the reader, she remains human. Throughout the novel, Jessica struggles to maintain power in a male-dominated society, and manages to help her son at key moments in his realization of power.[34] Actress Rebecca Ferguson, who plays Lady Jessica in the 2020 Denis Villeneuve film Dune, said of the adaptation:
Something that Denis Villeneuve and the writers have really taken into consideration is [that] this book was written back in the day when women were portrayed differently to what we are expecting nowadays—which we call gender equality...Even though [Lady Jessica] is a concubine to [Leto], she's also his bodyguard, his mentor, she can read thought and emotion and she's the best fighter there is. So there's a subtle power that she needs to teach her son, [Paul].[35]
She added:
[The film] completely and utterly honors the strength of Jessica...Denis was very much aligned with creating empowerment and powerful moments for her where they were needed. I think Frank Herbert...when he wrote it he didn't really live in an understandably equal environment...[The book] has beautiful moments in it [but] it's not really where we are or where we should be.[36]
Kim Taylor-Foster of Fandom compares Jessica's role as "breeding partner" but not wife to Leto to the Handmaids of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, though noting the stark differences.[35]
Heroism
I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it.
— Frank Herbert[37]
Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many stories describing the birth of a hero. He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him. After a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale.[38][39] As such, Dune is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means.[40] Eventually, Paul Atreides gains a level of omniscience which allows him to take over the planet and the galaxy, and causing the Fremen of Arrakis to worship him like a god. Author Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."[41] He wrote in 1985, "Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question."[42]
Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of Dune from earlier heroes such as Superman, van Vogt's Gilbert Gosseyn and Henry Kuttner's telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress." And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques." For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen, Ginaz swordsmen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators).[43]
Zen and religion
Main article: List of Dune religions
Early in his newspaper career, Herbert was introduced to Zen by two Jungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking".[44] Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work".[44] Throughout the Dune series and particularly in Dune, Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed from Zen Buddhism.[44][45] The Fremen are Zensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited.[46] In "Dune Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote:
What especially pleases me is to see the interwoven themes, the fuguelike relationships of images that exactly replay the way Dune took shape. As in an Escher lithograph, I involved myself with recurrent themes that turn into paradox. The central paradox concerns the human vision of time. What about Paul's gift of prescience-the Presbyterian fixation? For the Delphic Oracle to perform, it must tangle itself in a web of predestination. Yet predestination negates surprises and, in fact, sets up a mathematically enclosed universe whose limits are always inconsistent, always encountering the unprovable. It's like a koan, a Zen mind breaker. It's like the Cretan Epimenides saying, "All Cretans are liars."[33]
Brian Herbert called the Dune universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father incorporated elements of a variety of religions, including Buddhism, Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism.[47] He added that Frank Herbert's fictional future in which "religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms" represents the author's solution to eliminating arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have "the one and only revelation.
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