What I Think about Frank Herbert’s “Dune”

Let me put it simply:  best science fiction novel ever written.

I seriously doubt that anyone who has written a SF novel could disagree with that, harking all the way back to Verne and the earliest days of the genre.  To imagine Herbert writing such a rich and unique world in the 1960’s blows my mind.  He came up with new worlds, new religions, new languages, new titles all the while paralleling the world of the late Roman Empire and feudal societies.  It simply amazes me that a writer could sit down at a desk one day and come up with the words like “Muad’Dib” and “Kwisatz Haderach” and the deep meaning and mythology that surround them.  I’m jealous and envious of Herbert’s skill.  Without question, he is the SF equivalent of Tolkien.

It’s really the original ideas within “Dune” that attract me so much to the text.  Sitting down at my computer, it’s very difficult for me to imagine what the human race will be like in 30,000 years.  Granted, there are many things we’ll still have to deal with like politics and communities and religions and the irrationality of women.  But Herbert manages to create a world where all these things and more play out in an evolved manner.  Mankind has evolved past the need for technology to help us accomplish things, and the strive for mental, spiritual and physical perfection is evident in every character, whether they realize it or not.  Even the most vile, decadent and evil of characters still act with a sensibility and intelligence that almost every criminal mind lacks today.  And then, to impart the impact of religion and idolizing prophets on those advanced humans … simply amazing. 

The characters are a little wooden, but perhaps all mankind will be in 30,000 years.  We’ll be constantly introspective.  We’ll analyze and evaluate situations and people in fractions of seconds.  We will plan with so much precision that it’s almost as if we can predict the future.  To read for the first time an author purport that the human mind is capable of such analysis and foresight goes beyond the secondary schooling I was provided.  To operate in a world that advanced, with such advanced thinking and reasoning skills, before you’re even 18!  Would that we were so advanced today.

For an SF novel, it’s amazing how little emphasis is put on technology.  Even in the 1960’s when Herbert was writing there was the Hard SF that focused heavily on technology.  Herbert’s soft SF is refreshing and certainly more to my tastes.  Yes, there are shield walls and space liners and atomics, but there are also knives and needle weapons and an emphasis on physical perfection.  There’s homosexuality and concubines and inbreeding (after a fashion).  There’s intrigue and mystery and backstabbing.  All within one book.  It just amazes me.

I’ve been told the sequels lack the amazing qualities of “Dune” but that won’t stop me from proceeding to read them.  It’s a dynamic world Herbert has created, and I want to enjoy my time in it a bit longer.  For me and my own writing, Herbert’s influence is simple:  think bigger.  There’s more to my creativity and content than the prosaic words I throw out on the page.  There can be a well-thought out premise with intrigue and multi-dimensional characters.  There can be references at the beginnings of chapters to fictional historical texts to setup the reader and fill in gaps.  The qualities of SF may be maintained without focusing so much on technology.  Thank you, Mr. Herbert, for the “Hamlet” of our genre.