Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am not sure what science fiction had in terms in motifs before Dune, but with reading Dune, it becomes apparent that Frank Herbert expresses a great many motifs that later on become cliches, including, neo-religiousity, a female infant whose perspicacity is beyond comprehension, space age warfare that includes the most brutal of hand to hand combat, and so on. In a way, this book’s setting is the only thing that makes it sci-fi. Technology becomes invisible to the reader so that we reach the forefront of human exploration: social interaction. In a way, this kind of science fiction isn’t done anymore today, as Ursula Le Guin points out. Most sci-fi is centered around the awesomeness of technology, repetitious explosions, repetition of crowd pleasing effects (such as how the new Star Wars/Star Trek movies serve to repeat what the crowd likes), and other phenomenon based on past understandings.
In this way, Dune with its harshness and its strange world is different — you are confronted with society different than your own, but is seemingly non-arbitrary while being immersive. In many ways, the plot isn’t all that surprising. From the get go you realize what is going on, what needs to be done and how the book has to end. But at the same time, you realize at the end, that it’s not really about who you thought it was. The journey, while questionable before you get into it, isn’t at all questionable once you are in it, because it’s well worth the attempt to read it.
Comments (0)