Pi in the Sky

Dune

Posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 1:47pm by Pi.
Categories: Books.

Dune is one of the most famous works by sci-fi writer Frank Herbert. Written in 1965, is often cited as one of the most important and popular science fiction novels of all time, and also mentioned as the best selling science fiction book ever edited.

The plot doesn’t really sound original, as it shares many elements with other stories: A young heir finds himself in a strange place with his father killed and his house destroyed, but grows up along a prophecy to seek vengueance, control the most important substance of the universe, and become the ultimate ruler. Explained this way, it does sound a simple, common argument.

The complete argument would be a bit complex. The universe is almost controlled by the Space Guild, which uses the spice melange to travel between planets, and the Emperor. Noble Houses fight between each other in a feudal system, unable to join forces to get rid of the control of the Guild and the Emperor. Meanwhile, the sisterhood of Bene Gesserit, capable of seemingly magical powers, and which also uses melange in certain rites, has been manipulating the blood lines of certain individuals, seeking to produce a super-being called Kwisatz Haderach. In this frame, the House Atreides is assigned the control of Arrakis (also known as Dune), the desert planet where the huge sandworms reign, and the only place in the universe where melange can be found. The insidious House Harkonnen, enemies of Atreides, has to leave Arrakis. Duke Leto Atreides suspects it’s a trap, but doesn’t disobey the Emperor’s orders due to the enormous power that controlling the spice would bring to his House. But before the change is done, a mother Bene Gesserit visits Caladan, the planet where the Atreides reign, to test the young heir Paul Atreides, and she discovers that the guy could be the Kwisatz Haderach, which was expected one generation later.

The heir Paul Atreides is the central character in the vast novel. And I say vast because it has spawned the huge Dune Universe, fully detailed, with technology and mythology intertwined in a masterly way. But as anyone who has read the book would mention, probably the most prominent feature of Dune is the diplomacy. The relationships between many of the powers and characters, the politics, betrayals and alliances implied, the thoughts of them trapped in a flow of events that they can’t control which could destroy themselves or the whole universe, all this is an essential part of the novel, adding greatly to the depth of the described universe.

But probably what people remembers is Dune itself, a desert planet with little water and no rain, where the natives Fremen have adapted to it during generations to survive with little to no water while obtaining as much spice as they want, while in the rest of the universe the spice is the most important, and very expensive, substance. The Fremen are a key part in Leto’s plan for controlling Arrakis, but the Harkonnen betray him and destroy completely the House Atreides. Paul survives with his mother Jessica, also a Bene Gesserit. Due to the special education of Paul, he earns the respect of the Fremen, and plans both to help and use them against the Harkonnen, the Empire, and the whole universe.

Another feature often mentioned due to its spectacularity of Dune is the huge desert sandworm. Sandworms can be hundreds of meters in length, similar to earth worms in the outside, but being a much more complex and evolutioned form of life. They’re perfectly adapted to live in the desert, dwelling beneath the sand and detecting the vibration of anything, which they eat with their huge mouths (trivia: the relationship between animal length and mouth width is the same in the sandworm and in the earth great white shark, 10 to 1). The mixture of the endless desert, the Fremen society, and the sheer power of the sandworm, make a perfect epic background for the story. In any case, the single element which always stands out the most is the spice melange, which provides prescience and long life. It is clear that the melange is only a metaphore, hyperbole of “what material people need the most”, but this doesn’t simplify the effect that the melange has in the book and in the memes spawned from it. Melange, Shai’hulud (the sandworm, a thing of eternity), Usul and Muad’dib are often used outside the Dune context, as synonims of great, almost mythological things.

But Herbert doesn’t have enough to mix mesianic and mythological elements with a high-tech universe in a far future, while recreating an almost feudal system of galactic proportions and infinite diplomatic and politic complexity. He does it in a way that doesn’t leave any doubt of the astounding quality of the novel. Analysing the novel, and the impact it had in the fantasy and science-fiction field, would need a whole book (and certainly would be out of my abilities). It also spawned a film, two miniseries, five sequels written by Herbert himself, and more sequels by his son.

To not make this article longer, I’ll just end saying that I agree with the common opinion. Dune is a gigantic masterpiece, one of the best science fiction novels ever written, and one of my favourite books. It should be in the library of any science fiction reader, and even readers not used to sci-fi are often interested in it. A ten out of ten, and maybe I’m short.

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